


A Newbie's Quest

by Gamewizard2008



Series: Kids Next Door Gameverse [37]
Category: Codename: Kids Next Door, Glitch Techs, No straight Roads, One Piece
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Friendship, Giants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:40:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27362122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gamewizard2008/pseuds/Gamewizard2008
Summary: Story 2.5 of the Newborn Saga, theHinobi Arc. Miko Kubota is an energetic gamer girl and a KND operative of Planet Coruscant. As she is treated to shocking news one day, she must embark on a new quest with new friends.
Series: Kids Next Door Gameverse [37]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1046538





	1. A Newbie’s Sector Quest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A concert hosted by Sayu goes interrupted. Just as Miko Kubota and her friends try to save the day, they receive some unfortunate news.

**“But Gamewizard, you can’t just introduce a new sector! It’s way too late in the series to,” yeah, watch me! I found a cartoon called _Glitch Techs_ and I just HAD to add my favorite character to the Gameverse! I ain’t waiting until Third Gen, the Prime Gen is now!**

****

**_

Chapter 1: A Newbie’s Sector Q ~~uest~~

_**

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**Coruscant; Vinyl City** (Play “Vs. Sayu” from _No Straight Roads_!)

_“Hello, everyone! Thank you all for coming to my show! Seeing all my wonderful fans fills me with love, pyun! The concert will begin soon, so stay lovely! Pyun!”_

Vinyl City used Symphonian technology to provide energy for its citizens. Their generators were designed to absorb Music Chi provided by the most talented musicians. Sayu (from _NSR_ ) was an especially popular icon: she appeared onstage as a giant, pink mermaid with heart-shaped pupils, and platinum-white hair with magenta streaks. The stage was decorated with seaweed, floating fish, and water graphics. The audience primarily consisted of adolescents, kids, or parents of kids.

“She’s even cuter in person!” exclaimed Miko. The teenage human was distinguished from the crowds of aliens with her bluish-violet hair, a yellow T-shirt with a winking black cat, purple pants, and a blue hoodie tied around her waist. Her red socks went into large, pale-blue sneakers. “Five, how could you not be in love with her?!”

“Since when are you into concerts, anyway, Meeks?” asked High Five, a thin, half-Mexican human with puffy purple hair and a green shirt with a game controller design. Though he was a year younger than Miko, he was notably taller than his friend, but Miko’s brighter hair and more energetic demeanor allowed her to stand out far more.

“Since THIS girl showed up in _Guitar Queen Seven_!” expressed the violet-haired gamer. “She was added as a DLC last month, and I just fell in love! Her songs are so good! And I still have the muscle memory! Up down right right, String 1 String 2 String 4 String 3…”

Five chuckled at his friend’s antics. Between the two of them, he and Miko were diehard gamers. Their initial encounters took place in online fighting games, where the boy would always find himself royally beaten by the skilled girl. It wasn’t until they signed up for a gaming tournament that they would meet in person, and from then, their lives couldn’t have been more exciting.

The tournament entailed engaging in a virtual reality fighting game designed by Hinobi Tech, one of Coruscant’s top gaming companies. While the tournament was meant to only have one victor, Miko and Five used teamwork to win together. But it was then they learned it was more than just a tournament: Hinobi had cut a special deal with the Coruscant Kids Next Door. They were willing to sell the KND new technology and weapons for dealing with rogue robots and Programs, a naturally common occurrence on the high-tech planet. As a bonus, Hinobi promised to find potential new recruits to join the KND and use these gadgets. So by then, Five and Miko became recruits of new Sector Hinobi. But as an added bonus, they were hired as part-time workers for a Hinobi store.

“Ah, I recognize that voice from anywhere!”

Five and Miko looked over as another duo approached them. One was Hiro, a boy with messy dark hair, and Go-Go, a girl with a purple streak in her black hair who was notably taller than her male partner. Both were fellow operatives of Sector Six (from **Big Hero 6** ). “Go-Go, mah girl!” Miko cheered. “Hiro, mah man! You ready to start lovin’?!”

“Not until he’s taller.” Go-Go said, blowing some gum as it popped.

“Hah hah, I don’t think she meant it like that.” Hiro said with an awkward laugh.

“So, how’s the gaming business? Is Mitch being a good boy?”

“Ah, you know Mitch.” Five shrugged. “He’s, uh…he’s a tough one, alright.”

Mitch Williams was the leader of Sector Hinobi and a famous online game streamer. But due to his remarkable arrogance, he wasn’t favored too highly by his teammates. So, they were always happy to be away from him.

“So, who is this girl, anyway?” Hiro asked, looking toward the stage. “Is she from Aquaria? Why does that water look fake?”

“Well, she’s actually not real.” Five answered.

“ZZZT!” Miko swiped her arms. “We can’t use the ‘R’ word around her…”

“Why not?” Hiro replied.

“Sayu is a hologram.” Five explained. “I heard there’s a group of animators behind the scenes.”

“Like one of those solid holograms?”

“Kind of, but I don’t think she has a will of her own. One of them is providing the voice, someone else designs her outfits, one plays the music, and the other is constantly guiding her motions.”

“Don’t talk down about Sayu like that!” Miko defended. “The love that she makes us feel is real, and her soul is real! Just like Ally.” She tapped her right wristband as a red ostrich appeared digitally. “Isn’t that right, Ally?” She hugged her faithful companion.

“But if there’s an actual singer behind the scenes, why does she hide behind a hologram?” Hiro asked. “Is she good?”

“Well, of COURSE she’s GOOD!” Miko insisted, returning Ally to her band. “But you can’t just go around and show people how good you are! Then too many people’ll be hassling her for contracts or something! That’s why people use usernames or avatars online! Right, High Five?”

“You said it, Me_K.O.. Hey, it’s starting!”

“Yes! Quick, grab your air guitars!” Miko got in position, an eager grin on her face.

“Nnno.” Go-Go said.

“Does Sayu even use a guitar?” Five asked.

_“Undercurrents pull at your heart, Feeling so powerful, it… LEADS you on! The waves of emotion wash over me, But can you see the ocean… through the reef?”_

“Hey, she is kinda good!” Hiro said, the crowds awash in dance by the joyful vocals. “How long’s she been around?”

“About a year!” Five answered, his voice barely audible. “She got famous pretty quick! I think she even became a megastar of NSR, the group that runs-”

“Can it with the lecture, Five!” Miko yelled. “It’s time for the glow sticks!”

 _“STRONGER… than hate! Anchored through the tidal waves!”_ The audience raised sticks of many colors and waved them excitedly. _“Go on, take the bait! You can’t fight the CURRENTS of lo-…zzzzkkkkttt…”_

The waving ceased as gasps filled the masses: Sayu began sizzling and twitching in an erratic manner. _“L-L-Lo-Lo, l-l-lo-lo… hahahaha…Hahahahaha!”_ Sayu’s stuttering seemed to change into laughter. _“HA HA ha ha ha…”_ An eerie grin replaced her features, her skin turning green with red eyes. _“MWAH HA HA hah!”_ She cackled like an old mad scientist.

“HUH?!” Miko gawked, the color on her face drained in horror. “That’s not Sayu’s voice…”

_“Behold! I, Technus, master of all things mechanical, have become one with the illusory mermaid that is idolized by these alien adolescents! With her influence, I shall dominate the newest generation of Coruscanti children and become the supreme ruler of Coruscant! And to initiate my new command, I have composed a special song that is bound to earn the loyalty of you young whippersnappers.”_

“Oh, nerds!” Five panicked. “Did you guys bring your equipment?!”

“Right here!” Hiro used a Compowder to swap his and Go-Go’s outfits into blue and yellow hi-tech armor, respectively. “But we shouldn’t just charge him. He might be expecting resistance.”

“I’m calling our team.” Go-Go said, her communicator ready. “You call yours.”

“Good idea!” Five beamed. “Miko, you… Miko?” His bright-haired friend was absent.

Technus cleared his throat and began to sing, _“Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do, I’m the best just so ya know—WAAH!”_ The ghost suffered laser blasts to the head.

“BOO! YOU STINK!” Miko shouted, having run up onto the aqua-themed stage, armed with a high-tech gauntlet on her right arm. “Bring back Sayu, you party-pooper! Aaah!” The holo-fish became ghost-like and began chewing against Miko’s arms and face.

“Miko!” Five shot lasers from his own gauntlet to destroy the fish. “Don’t just rush in, we don’t know what this thing-” Technus fired digi-fish at both kids.

_“Did you think I wouldn’t expect Kids Next Door at this concert? My ghostly mini-ons were already in position!”_

There were screams throughout the audience as everyone’s glow sticks suddenly wrapped around their necks. Monstrous ghosts rose out of the sticks as they choked the aliens. Hiro and Go-Go had already dropped their sticks, but as the ghosts tried to latch onto them, the two quickly stomped and destroyed the sticks, the Possessor Ghosts escaping. _“You kiddies better stay put, or my ghosts will strangle the ‘love’ out of these mortals!”_

“I’ll knock the love outta YOU, FIRST!” Miko materialized a purple hammer from her gauntlet and leapt to bash Technus in the head.

“MIKO!” Five yelled in panic.

Go-Go, whose hands and shoes were equipped with discs, began throwing said discs around to chop the Ghost Sticks in a manner that didn’t hurt the citizens. “I’ll take care of the ghosts!”

“I’ll help!” Hiro began throwing EMP Bombs around to disable the sticks and thwart the ghosts’ hold over the electrical items.

High Five used jetshoes to fly around Technus and shoot the ghost. Technus willed digi-fish to attack him, and he also conjured a trident from Sayu’s code to clash with Miko’s hammer. Technus suddenly spun and whacked Miko away with his tailfin. Miko dispelled the hammer and summoned Ally from her gauntlet. “Let’s go, Ally!” She leapt on the solid hologram as Ally dashed at Technus. The villain jabbed his trident, but Ally jumped and ran up the handle. Technus smacked Ally off, but Miko had already flipped into the air to punch the villain’s face. Ally ran behind to bite Technus’s tailfin, the ghost yelling as he tried to shake her off.

“Don’t think we aren’t used to rogue A.I.!” Five declared as he and Miko fired a beam that caused Technus to glitch up. He was flickering between his and Sayu’s colors, but the ghost released a burst that pushed the kids away.

_“Your technology is quite ‘dope,’ but it ‘ain’t’ got ‘jack’ on me!”_

“His slang sounds so wrong!” Miko yelled as Ally flipped her back on her back. Both kids dodged digi-fish and lasers, and the Ghost Sticks were forcing the citizens to attack Hiro and Go-Go. Technus grabbed Five and tried to squeeze the boy, but Ally carried Miko up as she rose and smashed her hammer over Technus’s arm. Technus spun to whack Five and Ally away, but Miko grabbed onto his tail and fired the Derez Beam at his back. Technus slammed his tail down to stop her, followed by a stab from his trident to force her off. The digital weapon didn’t puncture Miko, but the impact left her dizzy. Technus pinned the trident against Miko to keep her bound to the stage.

 _“Now, as the gamers say, I am going to ‘own’ you like a personal possession! Zzzzzttt!”_ The villain began glitching once more. _“Aaaaahh! No! The Flashdrive! Someone is wrongfully Ejecting the Flashdrive! You’re supposed to click the Eject button before pulling it out of the—ZYAAAAAAHHH!”_ The giant mermonster poofed into pixels and disappeared off the stage with all the other graphics. (End song.)

As Five ran to help Miko up, Hiro and Go-Go were nearly finished destroying all the Ghost Sticks, with local officers arriving to assist them. “Can’t you newbs figure anything out for yourselves?” Five and Miko turned to face a blonde, dark-skinned boy as he marched out from backstage. He wore white and gray tech armor with a pink visor and “H” on the chest. “When dealing with rogue Programs, always go for the source.” He tossed the Flashdrive up in his hands. “Luckily, while you guys were distracting it, I managed to rescue the animators and derez this glitch. This flashy mermaid should be back to normal… in about a day.”

“Don’t worry! We have a backup Sayu ready!” one of the animators said from the doorway, a short human with rectangle glasses. There were three others: a blue alien with a darker-blue uniform and sword on his back, a larger chubby humanoid with swirly glasses and umbrella hat, and a cyan-skinned girl with glasses and red hoodie.

“Holy cow! That’s Mitch Williams!” the chubby boy perked up. “I watch his Let’s Play videos! Hwow, I can’t believe we were saved by him!”

“Hey, we helped, too!” Five argued. “And what’re you doing here anyway, Mitch? You got a thing for Sayu?”

“As if I would ever fall in love with a digital fish-puppet.”

“Pbblth.” Miko blew a raspberry. …She glanced at the animators and particularly noticed the hooded girl. “Wait, are you the singer?”

“!” The girl flinched and retreated into the building.

“Wait! I want your auto-”

“Not so fast, Miko.” Mitch grabbed her shirt before she could run off. “The reason I’m here is to bring you exciting news.” He released Miko as the girl compliantly turned to face him. The Sector Leader bore a proud smile as he announced, “Hinobi Tech is officially branching out to other galaxies!”

“You came here just to tell us that?” Five questioned.

“As I speak, new stores have already been established on Planet Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy. Employees are signing up to be transferred to Earth and manage the stores. But, considering the vast distance between this world and Earth, you can imagine why they would want to move their whole families. And _guess_ who I signed up~?”

**Kubota Household**

“WE’RE _MOVING_?!” Miko screamed at her parents with utter exasperation.

“Well… yes.” said her father, Hugh, an average man with blonde hair and a green shirt. “We… thought you already knew?”

“Your friend, Mitch told us weeks ago.” her mother, Mayumi followed. She was a half-Japanese woman with a pink shirt. “Well, it actually went like…”

_“Wait, Miko hasn’t told you, yet?” Mitch asked innocently. “Oh, darn! She must be planning to surprise you, I think I ruined it!”_

_“Ha ha, it’s okay!” Mayumi smiled. “We’ll pretend we didn’t hear anything.”_

“NO! NO NO NO, push that Reset button!” Miko yelled, mashing an invisible controller. “I didn’t sign up for ANYTHING! Mitch did it behind my back, that cocky little dick!”

“Miko! Language!”

“I just said ‘dick’! At least I didn’t call him the ‘B’ word; you know, the one that rhymes with ‘Mitch’!”

“Wait, is that why you boxed up all my karate trophies?” asked Lexi, Miko’s 11-year-old sister. She wore a standard karate robe and black hair in a ponytail. “Not so they wouldn’t get dusty?”

“No, it’s ’cause they were all bronze trophies and lame!” remarked Lee, the 5-year-old brother.

“Lee!” Hugh scolded. “Sigh, but we wanted to surprise you, too. And we’ve kind of already started packing. We’re supposed to leave in a week, right?”

“No!” Miko yelled. “We can’t leave! What about Kids Next Door? You expect me to just fly back-and-forth between galaxies all the time?”

“Doesn’t Earth have a KND?” Mayumi asked.

“But all our friends and family are here! And our jobs!”

“Well, actually, I already talked with my boss about it.” Hugh said. “They have toothpaste factories down on Earth, so he promised to put in the good word for me. We’ll settle in in no time!”

“But…but why?” Miko grew more downtrodden with each rebuttle. “Don’t you like it here?”

“It’s not that we don’t,” Mayumi answered, “but when we looked into it, Earth’s homes seem much more affordable than Coruscant’s. Plus, there’s prettier skies, prettier grass, prettier oceans… it’s like all of Galaxia’s planets mixed into one!”

“We’ve been under a lot of stress lately, to be honest.” Hugh said. “Not just your mother and I, but your siblings, too. Maybe we just need to escape from the big city and settle down in the small city.”

“Still bigger than Kateenia, so it’s fine with me.” Lexi shrugged. “Ugh, can’t believe I lost a match to a dumb Kateenian…” she mumbled under her breath.

“Thiiirrrd plaaaace…” teased Lee, his sister growling in spite.

“But, I…I don’t wanna move.” Miko moaned, bowing her head and facing away from her parents.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry that you didn’t know.” Mayumi placed a hand on her shoulder in sympathy. “But I think this will be a fun new experience for you. See some new things, make some new friends… and you can always play with your old friends online. Besides, if Earth’s KND has their own spaceships, you can visit them once in a while.”

“Yeah, but it’s so far awaaaayyy…” Miko slumped against the wall as she brushed her way to the door.

“Well, you probably have some good-byes to make.” Hugh said. “Be home soon, kiddo.”

“Yeah…” She lazily shoved open the door and left.

Five and Mitch awaited her outside, the latter sporting his cocky smile. “Well, it was nice knowing you, newb.” Mitch said. “I could have signed Five away, but I decided, I tolerate him slightly more than you.”

Miko shot him a deathly glare. “Get out of here, you little… B-word.”

“Pfft. Don’t even know what that is…” Mitch walked away on that remark.

Five glared as well, but turned to Miko with sympathy. “I’m sorry this happened, Miko. I’m gonna miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too. …Wait, why don’t you sign up to move, too? Then we can both still work together!” The shorter gamer perked back up.

“Yeah, but… to be honest, I don’t really wanna leave either. I wanna stay and look after my dad’s store… plus, it’d be harder to schedule visits for him in prison if I’m… in another galaxy.”

“Yeah… that’s true.” Miko’s hope faded like her smile. “I… guess this is it for us. Except online.”

“I’ll visit you, too. Come on, Meeks, it won’t be so bad.” Five smiled hopefully. “I heard a lot of cool stories about Earth. It has some of the best operatives. They conquered New Galaxia and everything!”

“I know, but… I feel like you were the only friend that’s ever understood me. You’re the only one that likes to spend time with me, despite my… problems.”

“Pfft, problems, what problems?”

“Uh, my focus issues, my hastiness issues, my rudeness issues… all of which people commonly point out. Including you.”

“You’re forgetting Ridley. She understands you, too.”

“She’s also a rogue hacker who’s always on the run. Not exactly easy to hang out with.”

“Okay, but putting the problems aside, you’re also a fun person to be around, and a dependable teammate. Whichever team you wind up in, they’ll be glad to have you.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah! But if that ain’t enough, maybe you can think of it like… a quest.”

“A quest?”

“A quest to join the best of the best! To represent Coruscant in the top Kids Next Door!”

“A quest to join the best? That sounds like the best quest!”

“You ready to take on brand new challenges with brand new friends in this brand new quest??”

 _“More like a newb quest!”_ Mitch called.

Miko shot him a glare. “Sign me up! We’ll see how Mitch feels when I’m hangin’ with the best!”

“Yeah!” High Five dealt her a double high-five!

**KND Moonbase; three days later**

Miko was brought to Earth’s Moonbase personally by the Coruscant KND’s Supreme Leader, Sasha Phyronix. Sasha was a Cazar (a brown-furred feline alien) with a lilac and dark-purple suit with golden highlights.

Both operatives met with Earth’s leader, Cheren Uno, in his office. As they discussed the circumstances, Cheren was handed a file describing Miko’s history. “Hehe, this is a wild one, isn’t she?”

“According to Mitch’s reports,” Sasha said, “Miko has trouble with following orders and tends to act recklessly.” The girl in question grinned sheepishly. “But Numbuh High Five and their other sectormates have spoken favorably about her… with slight agreement to the contrary.”

“Ah, that’s no biggie. We have tons of operatives like that. We’d be happy to have her!”

“GREAT!” Miko jumped, startling Sasha and her sensitive ears. “Put me in the best sector ya got!”

“Uhh, Sector V has enough members.”

“Then the second best!”

“Sector W7 also has their max.”

“The third!”

“Well, Sector W technically has a spot open, but adding a 16-year-old would ruin their ‘youngest members’ theme. Heh…”

“Uuuugh! Just drop me in whatever sector’s good! Ya know, as long as it’s a good one!”

“As Supreme Leader, I think all my sectors are good.”

“You know what I mean! Just… I dunno, put me in a sector that would like someone like me.”

“I mean, that’s all a matter of opinion at that point. Hmmm…” Cheren looked at the file. “But considering where your shop is gonna be stationed, I have an idea where to place you.”

“Okay! Who ya got for me?”

**August 12…**

Miko’s family had gathered all their things and began to unpack in their new home on Earth. During this time, Miko set foot in the treehouse that would be her new sector. A new home and new friends were about to be made here at Quahog, Rhode Island.

Confetti was fired around the living room, a banner welcoming Miko unraveled, and four of her five new teammates popped open soda bottles and flung them upward as the fizz erupted. “HAPPY NEW TEAMMATE DAAAAAY!” The kids of Sector Q raved! Drake Puncture, the handsome leader with sunglasses and a hook hand; Quill Ramsey, a short boy with a black sweater, white shorts, and brown shoes; E. Carmine, the only girl with no soda to drink as she wore a brown gas mask and brown contamination suit; Eddy Flores, a scrawny nerd with hi-tech glasses and brown hair; and Jenny Strongarm, a girl with a dark-yellow shirt, pink biker helmet over her messy brown hair, and dark-yellow roller-blades.

“We finally hit our sixth member!” Drake cheered.

“And an alien to boot!” Carmine cheered.

“I expected her to look less human.” Eddy said.

“Who cares? An alien’s still an alien!” Jenny declared.

“Welcome to Sector Q, Numbuh K.O.!” Quill greeted.

Miko let out a chuckle. She had never gotten such an ecstatic reception before, not even when she won the highest scores in _Sock ’Em Rockers_. She almost felt like their enthusiasm was a little forced; either that, or they were just that crazy. If that were the case, Miko thought she could really warm up to them. “And actually, it’s Me_K.O.!” And she socked Quill in the gut.

“OOF! My mistake…cough.”

“Nice, another tough girl!” Jenny said. “Now we’re perfect!”

“Perfection is my middle name!” Miko boasted. Thus, the beginning of her new Sector Quest commenced!

**And PLOT TWIST!! :D Lol I had this sector set up for ages, but never had a good role for them! Not until now! Boy, is this gonna lead to some edits!**


	2. An Eyesore of a Glitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Miko gets more comfortable with her new teammates, an unfortunate incident happens with her Hinobi game console.

**One thing I didn’t like about _Glitch Techs_ is all the flashes. I know Netflix makes that warning about photosensitive viewers, but I always have to remember to look away.**

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Chapter 2: An Eyesore of a Glitch

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“So I said, ‘Mitch, I don’t care how many subscribers you got, you’re just a whiny little bitch!’ Yeah, I said it!” Miko boasted, chilling on the couch between Eddy and Drake. The sectormates were chowing on pizza, except for Carmine, who merely sipped water through a straw. “Like man, I’m glad to be away from that guy.”

“Eh, I wouldn’t hold my breath.” Jenny remarked, the roller-blader sitting on the backrest of the couch. “Drake can be really full of himself.”

“Only ’cause my team is the coolest~” Drake said coolly.

With Drake Puncture, Numbuh 3-Hole Puncher, being 15 years old, he was a year younger than Miko, but the Sector Leader nonetheless looked the part of a cool and collected dude. His short black hair was kind of spiked, and his sunglasses hid his clear blue eyes. He was rather trim and muscular under his green T-shirt and khaki pants, but what really distinguished him from a typical high school jock is his mechanical right hand.

Numbuh 2-Shot, Quill Ramsey, was 13 years old, though he hit a snag in his growth somewhere and was left as the shortest member, being waist level with Miko and Drake. He was the 4x4 technology officer as well as the vice-leader.

Eddy Flores, Numbuh Record, served as the spy and computer hacker. Under his big, hi-tech glasses, he seemed like an average, 12-year nerd with pale-blue shirt, black shorts, and blue shoes, his brown hair messy. His skinny build implied little room in the combat department.

E. Carmine, Numbuh Caution, was a pyrotechnician covered completely in her brown suit, rough to the touch. Despite her covered and muffled form, the 12-year-old girl possessed a lively and positive aura.

Jenny Strongarm, Numbuh Hundred Steps, acted as the “big sister” of the group (though now the middle sister), a thin, but tough and confident-looking sports girl. She seemed to stay balanced on her roller-blades and bore the tone of a tomboy. Miko hoped to bond well with the 14-year.

“Still, Hinobi Tech, huh?” Drake asked. “They managed your sector back on Coruscant? That kinda breaks tradition a bit.”

“They mostly just wanted to advertise their tech.” Miko shrugged. “But like, it’s cool! Check THIS baby out!” She clicked her gauntlet and materialized Ally.

“Yo!” Jenny yelped. “You had an ostrich in that thing?!”

“It appears to be a solid hologram.” Eddy observed, going up to poke the bird. Ally paid him no mind and pecked at the floor. “Are you a computer expert, too?”

“Nope, just a hardcore gamer. Don’t know how it’s made, but I know how it’s played. You guys gamers?”

“Eddy more than the rest of us.” Quill answered.

“I’m with Nintendo all the way!” Eddy beamed. “Even though they STILL won’t give us _Mother 3_. It’s been almost 30 years, just give us an official translation!”

“Well, sounds like your chance to check out some Hinobi titles! Lemme just dig out the ol’ Hinobi Box…” Miko raced over to a pile of crates that the W.A.T.C.H.B.O.T.s helped load in. “Nope, nope, not here, not this one, bingo!” She successfully retrieved the white console, imagining an 8-bit jingle to go with her victory. “Aha, it’s still got _Castlestein_ in it! Now I’ll just hook it up to the tele and…” Miko walked up to the TV with the cord ends held. “…?” She scanned the TV confusedly. “Where’s the HD-SP-XIV adapter?”

“Theeeee what?” Jenny asked.

“I’m not sure what kind of TVs Coruscant has,” Carmine replied, “but ours might be a bit… different.”

“No, we can’t have this!” Miko panicked. “Wait! The store will have what we need! Hinobi must be selling Earth TV adapters, of course! Everyone, to Hinobi Stop!” She thrusted a finger up determinedly.

“Yo, chill, Gamegrl.” Jenny stylishly rolled backwards on her roller-blades and put an arm around Miko. “We can worry about that stuff later. Tell us about some of your missions. If you’re a Coruscanti, I bet you were involved in the Tachyon incident, right?”

“Well, not exactly.” Miko replied modestly. As they talked, Eddy walked behind them and crouched down to study the Hinobi console. “I wasn’t an operative back then, but like, I was SO sick of hearing my mom harping on about Tachyon!” Eddy rubbed his chin curiously and began using tools to take apart the device. “Like, I get it, he was a bad guy, he tried to destroy the city and stuff, but I just don’t care about politics, and it’s not like _she_ was gonna do anything.”

“Yeah, I can feel ya there.” Jenny replied. Eddy began taking parts out of his Nintendo NX and attaching it to the Hinobi Box. “Problem is, with this job, you’ll have to take on evil politicians every once in a while.”

“That’s why I dig it! The KND is just like videogames, ya know, just point out the boss, get to the boss, and take out his HP, nice and simple.”

“It isn’t always that simple.” Carmine inputted, her muffled voice somber behind her gas mask. “If you’re not careful, something terrible could happen. Just look at me. I was-”

“Hey, what’re you doing to my console?” Miko asked, having just glanced back and down at Eddy.

“Oh, I think I found a solution!” Eddy replied. “I attached parts from my NX to the Hinobi. We can use the NX’s cables to hook up to the TV and probably play it.”

“Don’t just tinker with my console without asking me!”

“Sorry! Look, I’ll buy you a new one if something goes wrong.”

“Well, whatever fires this baby up faster, the better.” Miko shrugged, pushing the Power button. “I mean, no way it would fry up just from a-”

The console began sparking from the foreign components, the TV sizzling with static. “Unless… _that_ happens.”

A pair of large, boney hands emerged from and grabbed the rims of the TV. A digital, skeletal monster in a hood hissed grimly at the operatives. Eddy frightfully scooted back on his rear, Miko and Jenny stepping and rolling back as well. The beast stomped on the floor and used a shovel to tear off part of the wood floor and fling it at them, Miko and Jenny jumping apart. “It’s the Gravekeeper!” Miko exclaimed.

“This feels like a very realistic game!” Drake yelled.

“Where’s the instruction booklet?!” Quill panicked.

Miko sneakily turned away, whispering into her wristwatch. “Hey, BITT, it’s me, Miko. So, like, I’m in my new KND sector, and you-know-what is happening. Y’know, _glitch_?”

 _“As you should have been properly instructed, your job is to eradicate and reprogram all faulty Programs with the use of your Hinobi Tech gauntlet!”_ replied a cheery robot voice. _“You must also make sure to mind-wipe all non-Hinobi employees who bear witness to the faulty product. By selecting the ‘Mind Wipe’ function and aiming the flash at the targets in question, all things relating to ‘Hinobi Errors’ will be-”_

“Yeah yeah, about the mind-wiping part, that doesn’t include teammates, right?”

_“Hinobi must maintain a strong reputation with its customers! All non-affiliated sapient witnesses who witness Hinobi malfunctions must be mind-wiped to maintain a strong relationship with our customers.”_

“Hey, newbie!” Jenny yelled, swiftly rolling around the pixelly monster as she threw momentum-powered kicks against its skull. “You gonna show us how this game works or not?!”

“I mean, it’s a pretty standard boss!” Miko said, shooting lasers from her gauntlet. “Just deplete its HP and it’ll go down!”

“Sounds fine to me!” Drake changed his hook hand into a harpoon and launched it at the Gravekeeper, piercing it, then hauling the monster up to slam it to the floor. Quill drew out a pair of rectangular guns and shot fire over the Program. The Gravekeeper detached and chucked the point of his shovel at Quill, who dodged, but just as the beast conjured a new point, Miko raised her purple hammer and smashed it over its skull head. The Program began blinking, so Miko fired a ray over the Hinobi console. In a matter of seconds, the monster derezzed out of existence.

“Okay, what the heck was that?!” Eddy asked, scrambling up to the consoles and beginning to detach the NX parts from the Hinobi. “That’s the last time I tinker with alien game consoles! Man, I hope this doesn’t ruin my NX.”

“I’m sorry I have to do this, but…” Miko aimed her gauntlet at Eddy.

“Do what?” Eddy looked up at her—but in the next second, there was a blinding flash!

_0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0…_

Eddy was lost in another dimension. Everything was bright, everything was neon, and his brain and body were like liquid, lost in the neon waves.

<><><><><><><><>

“AAAAAHHH!” Eddy let out a scream and grabbed his head, writing on the floor. “AAH! I’M BLIND! What happened to me?!”

“Eddy!” Jenny panicked, kneeling down to hold her squirming friend. “Miko, what did you do that for?! He’s photosensitive!”

“W-What’s that mean?”

“His eyes are sensitive to bright lights! His glasses are designed to shade in bright areas, but if you just flash him like that…”

“Oh…” Miko bit her lip in guilt. “Then, could you turn him away for a second?”

However, her gauntlet was immediately frozen by Quill’s Elementor gun, using the ice setting. Drake caught Miko in a lasso before jumping to pin her down. “What’re you doing with that, anyway?!”

“Yeah, why did you do that to Eddy?!” Carmine asked.

“No, please! I can explain! I wasn’t trying to hurt him, I just…”

“Is that Miko?” Eddy asked. “What do you mean she did this? I was just checking out her console!”

“Yeah, and it brought some creepy skeleton dude to life.” Drake said.

“What skeleton dude? What happened?”

“The monster that just attacked us! Don’t you remember?” Jenny asked.

“We were… attacked?”

“…” Quill glared and aimed a gun at Miko. “Did you do something to his memory?”

“You better start explaining or it’s the Arctic Prison for you.” Drake stated.

“Let’s bring Eddy to his room.” Carmine suggested. Jenny lifted the boy and rolled toward the hallway, the others following.

Eddy was lain on his bed as Carmine brought eye drops to drip onto him. His squirming began to subside. “Okay, so, the truth is… Hinobi’s games tend to glitch from time to time, and, well… come to life and attack people. It’s something to do with the kind of hardware they’re using, trying to make games more interactive. So, whenever this happens, naturally KND operatives have to deal with it, but Hinobi doesn’t want word to spread too much about it, so… that was part of their deal with the KND. They hired us ‘special’ operatives to help mind-wipe people of Hinobi’s flaws.”

“So, it’s some kind of secret identity thing?” Jenny asked. “Come on, dude, that stuff is outdated! And besides, we’re Kids Next Door, too, and we only decommission traitors!”

“Well, I called and asked, but you guys aren’t exempt. They said I had to mind-wipe you in case of…”

“No no no, that’s where you gotta draw the line.” Drake shook his head. “First of all, besides the traitor thing, memory-wiping is a little taboo in this profession. One of the KND’s guidelines is that experience and knowledge leads to strength, so if you just wipe our minds of every battle, we ain’t gonna get any stronger. And secondly, you don’t just keep these kinds of things a secret from your own teammates. If there’s a burden you have, at least cue us in on it. Then we’ll decide whether we wanna stress over it and help you out.”

“And honestly, I only just heard of Hinobi,” Jenny said with a shrug, “so I don’t care if they have a bad reputation. Especially if THIS is what their tech does. At least Cheren’s excuse is just ‘I just didn’t want my operatives to worry’ or something, but like, why even try to defend some faulty game company?”

“But if I don’t do my job, Hinobi said they would fire me, and they’d convince the KND to kick me out, too.”

“Is Hinobi really that important to you?” Quill asked.

“It’s just, ever since I was little, all I’ve ever been good at is videogames. I got held back a grade one year, I needed a lot of tutoring, then my parents just decided to home-school me. And now they’re proud that I have a job and I’m doing something that matters for the world. It isn’t just about Hinobi… but come on, I swear their games are good, we just gotta-”

“I could really care less about that part.” Eddy stated. “You know, Nintendo always had a problem with trying to make their games too perfect, getting rid of all the fun glitches, but at least they don’t FLASH their customers and try to make them forget! If this is how they treat people, they don’t deserve anyone’s business. Do they even ask if people have a medical condition before flashing them? I guess not!”

“I mean, you said you were a gamer, so I didn’t expect you to have sensitive eyes.”

“My glasses help me tolerate lights and enjoy what I love. But now I might never get to play again.”

“I’m sorry! Is there any way I can help?”

“Relax, Eddy, it’s not nearly as bad as when Sheila flashed her fist at us once.” Jenny said. “Your eyes will be better by tomorrow.”

“Yeah, well I still think I’m owed some compensation. Why don’t you flash yourself right in the face and see how it feels?”

“Come on, don’t make her mind-wipe herself.”

“It doesn’t really work on me.” Miko said.

“What doesn’t work?”

“Well, like, check this out.” Miko stepped away. “Actually, don’t look, but I’ll let you know.” She aimed the gauntlet at herself, and the others looked away as the gauntlet flashed.

Miko experienced a similar wavy, neon sensation full of ones and zeroes. But it was then that a digital barrier popped up around her, the space sparking and glitching. She was pulled back into reality as her gauntlet flashed a red _ERROR_ message. “See? It doesn’t work on me.”

“Huh…why is that?”

“Beats me. I guess I just got a sharp mind is all!”

“Well, this feels unsatisfying.” Eddy said.

“Well, do you want me to pour hot water in my eyes or something?” Miko asked in slight frustration. “I said I was sorry, I didn’t know.”

“If you knew Hinobi’s games could endanger us like that, you shouldn’t have tried to hook it up in the first place. So, I hope you aren’t expecting to play it any time soon.”

“But they’re really good, I swear they are!”

“Do I look like I care to listen?”

Miko sighed. “Should I just leave? I’m just causing you guys trouble.”

“Losing a newbie on the first day after one little mistake?” Drake asked, raising his hook like a question mark. “That’s seriously lame.”

“What’s your true allegiance, anyway?” Quill asked, the shortest boy looking up with strict eyes. “Is it Hinobi or the KND?”

“I mean…” Miko rubbed her arm anxiously, “it’s because of Hinobi that I’m even in the KND. And because of that, I had friends who liked to spend time with me.”

“Cool, but we don’t really care about Hinobi.” Drake folded his trim arms confidently. “Even if they fire you, we’d still keep you around! Cheren wouldn’t listen to those pricks, and even if they try to wipe our memories, we have timebenders and psychics who are immune to that shit! Aren’t they?”

“I think so.” Quill shrugged.

“So… you don’t want me to leave?”

“I’d be willing to let her stay.” Carmine replied. “Having new friends is always nice! …If it’s alright with Eddy.”

“…” The bedridden boy was silent for a moment. “She can stay, under a few conditions. One, we limit time with the Hinobi console so it doesn’t always try to kill us, and two, she never uses that flashy thingy again.”

“Okay, but what if other people start encountering glitches?” Miko asked. “If I don’t do my job, we might get in trouble with Hinobi, too.”

“Hmm…” Drake tapped his hook to his head. “I don’t really agree with the mind-wiping thing, but we can probably agree to play along. Maybe. But don’t think about using that thing on us. Not on other operatives and especially not Eddy, and if Hinobi doesn’t like that, they can try to take us on.”

“Yeah, we ain’t afraid of some third-rate developers!” Jenny fist-palmed. “We’ll protect our new sister ’til the end!”

“Heh…sister?” Miko blushed.

“Do you agree to Eddy’s terms or not?” asked Quill.

“Y-Yes! I agree. Thanks, for letting me stay.” Miko cracked a nervous smile. “And I’m sorry for flashing you, Eddy.” She walked up to the boy and patted his chest. “I hope you’ll still want to play games with me after this.”

“I’ll consider it… provided I get a mocha slushy.”

“YOU GOT IT!” Miko declared. The prompt, _Side Quest: Mocha Slushy of Friendship_ appeared above her!

Miko proceeded to race out of the room, her new friends following, except for Carmine as she chose to look after Eddy. “Wait, if you’re immune to the mind-wipe, maybe you’re a timebender or something!” Drake said.

“I don’t have any bending that I’m aware of. Unless you count my scorebending!”

“Let’s see how that matches with my rollerbending!” Jenny cheered.

Carmine smiled under her mask. “I’m sure we’ll get used to her. At least now our team feels balanced!”

“I guess so. But still… I feel like doing some investigating on this Hinobi.”

**Coruscant; Hinobi H.Q.**

The Core of Hinobi Tech was a large, green, cubical generator. The hundreds of cords attached to it branched out into millions more cords, connected to every computer, every hard-drive, and every console. A husky woman inspected the Core, writing something on her clipboard. “There are reports of a hacker trying to infiltrate our network. They’re a rather frequent visitor… you wouldn’t happen to be letting them in, would you?”

The box seemed to spark and blink, a pair of square blue eyes flickering in it.

“Oh ho ho! Of course you wouldn’t. Still, it seems that our subject has moved to Earth. I suppose that means they’ll start encountering a surplus of glitches. We only need a bit more time until our game is complete. Still, Earth’s Kids Next Door is known to be… rather nosey in other people’s business. Perhaps we shouldn’t have permitted her to go. Hmmm…for now, we’ll just watch what happens.” With that, she calmly exited the room.


	3. Eternal Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> E. Carmine reveals the story of how she ended up wearing her suit.

**Time for a backstory!**

****

**_

Chapter 3: Eternal Scars

_**

****

**Bomb Factory; four years ago**

Sector Q had learned of a factory that was manufacturing bombs made of a toxic waste. The poisons came from an unknown source, but the factory was run by Professor Chang, a Russian Brotherhood scientist in a white suit.

Eddy Flores was the first to infiltrate the factory, stealthing past the guards to reach the Security Stations. He used his hacking skills to disable the alarms and communications, as well as open doors for his teammates to enter. The guards swarmed the operatives and fired red laser guns, but the four were quick dodgers as Drake shot his harpoon to disarm them and Quill shot ice to freeze them. Jenny was the trickiest target, fast on her skates as her feet flew up to bash the minions in the heads.

E. Carmine broke away from the others to regroup with Eddy. Carmine had puffy brown hair in a small ponytail, her eyes wide and pink. She wore a white frilly dress with bombs attached all around it, with white strap-on shoes. Carmine threw bombs to guards up ahead, exerting enough explosive force to KO them without serious injury. “We’ll find the Toxic Core in just a few turns!” Eddy indicated the map.

“I’ll blow it to smithereens!” Carmine declared, her smirk radiating with confidence.

The core appeared to be a large pumping mechanism with several pipes of toxic gas attached. “Just attach your timed bombs near the pressure points so we can get outta here. I’ll reseal the barrier, too.”

“Let’s get to it!” Carmine raced to the core and began to attach bombs around various points. Once she was finished, Carmine pushed a remote to start a ten-minute timer, and Eddy inputted a code to seal the core under a large gate. The duo began to race out of the chamber, but just as Eddy left first, a door suddenly separated the two. “Ahh! Eddy!” Carmine banged on the door in panic.

“Carmine!” Eddy yelled.

“Just where do you urchins think you’re going?” Professor Chang yelled from a windowed control center above the room. “If you’re planning to destroy my factory, it’s only fair you go with it!”

Carmine gasped and tried to use the remote to disable the timers. However, the core’s barrier was too thick for the signal to reach. “No! Eddy, I can’t shut off the bombs!”

“I’ll try to get you out of there!” Eddy said, quickly tapping his keyboard. “Crap! Chang already changed the codes! AAH!” Lasers shot at him.

“Stop what you’re doing, kid!” the guards yelled, shooting lasers at Eddy. The boy scrambled to dodge in the tight space, and his computer was shot and destroyed. With no other option, he hastily dodged past the guards in search of a control room.

“Eddy!” Carmine cried in worry. She looked up at the control room and yelled, “Please, open the barrier! I’ll disable the bombs!”

“It’s too late for that, dearie!” Chang stated. “You kids have done too much damage, and I’m certain more of you will come eventually. I’ll have to abandon this factory, anyway! At least I can take a few of you with it!”

“The hell you will!” Quill broke into the room and shot plasma bullets at the scientist. Chang whipped out his own gun and countered him, but Quill’s shortness allowed him to evade, the boy dashing to shove into Chang. Quill then jumped to shove the shotgun out of his hands, followed by a quick kick to Chang’s face. “You better let Carmine out of there now!”

“You children doomed yourself by coming here!”

“And I’ll make sure you’re doomed, too!”

“Grrr! Fine, you insolent brat!” Chang pushed himself up and turned to the terminal. “Just give me a second to input the 20-digit code, then we should be…”

And in the next second, the windows were blocked by strong shutters, along with the room’s exit. “There! Now we should be perfectly safe from any nasty explosions!”

Quill leapt to strangle the scientist and haul him to the floor, bashing his head mercilessly until Chang was knocked out. “Dammit! Eddy, I’m trapped in the control room with Chang!” he yelled into his communicator.

Eddy had made it into another security room. Jenny was working to take down the guards trying to catch him. “Okay, I’ll have you out in a sec, too!”

“No, just focus on getting Carmine out of there! Chang set it up so we’ll be safe from the explosion!”

“Hurry, guys!” Carmine called into her com. “There’s not much time left!”

“Damn, 10 minutes flies way too quickly!” Drake yelled. “Guys, check the nearby closets for spare contamination suits! I don’t know if we’ll make it out on time!”

Eddy spent the next few minutes trying to hurriedly hack the system using the security room’s computer. Jenny skated in with two suits in hand. “I got some for us!”

“And I almost have the door opened!” Eddy said. “Carmine, are there any suits in there?!”

“No, I can’t find any!” Carmine called back. “There’s only a couple minutes left!”

“Couldn’t you have opened the core’s barrier so she can turn the bombs off?!” Jenny asked.

“That would’ve taken longer to hack! Okay, I think I got it! Hurry, Carmine!”

As the door opened, Carmine quickly crawled under it, but some guards were still around and trying to shoot the girl. Carmine tried to run past, but they grabbed hold in attempt to restrain her. Sadly, before she could even attempt to escape, her bombs went off.

The core exploded, breaching the barrier as the gas spread throughout the entire base. “AAAAAHHH!” Carmine cried as she became enveloped in the fumes, the force of the explosion blowing herself and the guards away.

_“CARMIIIIIINE…”_

**Sometime later…**

Carmine had no idea what happened next. She was probably in Limbo, lost in the realm between lives… but eventually, her vision was filled with the somber expressions of her four friends. Even Drake had taken off his sunglasses, exposing his despair to the waking girl. “Carmine… thank goodness you woke up.” Jenny sighed.

“Nnnnmmm…” Carmine could make out a tube around her mouth, muffling her voice. “Gys… wht hppned?”

“You were out for a month and a half.” Quill said. “It’s October 15.”

“Uh mnth? …Is evryne… uky?”

“Is everyone okay?” Drake repeated. “Well, the rest of us got the suits on in time, but we had to search through the gas to find you. Honestly… we barely recognized you.”

“After we pulled you out,” Eddy continued, “we called other operatives to help clear away the poison. Then we managed to save Quill and arrest Chang.”

“Uuu…tht’s good…”

“Yeah… anyway, you’re in pretty bad shape. Do you wanna see yourself? You’re not gonna like it.”

“…Uhuh…”

“I guess she said ‘uh-huh.’” Drake figured. With that, Jenny held a mirror up to Carmine.

Her wide pink eyes had become more pink and dry. Her lush and puffy hair was gone, and her skin had decayed to a wrinkly, pinkish, and round alien-like form. She could vaguely make out her mouth through the tube: her lips were gone, and only a few scrawny teeth remained. “Uuuuuuu…” She almost wanted to cry and scream, but couldn’t find the strength for it.

“Yeah… your whole body looks like that.” Quill explained. “Haruka helped pump the poison out of you, and we had Melody and other healers try to fix you. But nothing worked, and you were even squirming in your sleep. Apparently, you’re extremely sensitive to… well, everything. But it at least told us you were still alive. We fed you safe amounts of warm water.”

“Nnnn…uuuu…”

They assumed by her moans that she was incredibly upset. They heard the door open as Haruka walked in. “I’m back with the anxiety pills. …Did you break the news to her?”

“Yeah.” Drake said. “So, uh… when’ll she be fit to battle again?”

“What?!” Haruka gasped. “What are you saying?!”

“I mean… you said you were getting a suit ready for her.”

“That was so she wouldn’t have to stay cooped in here! It was so she could return to a relatively normal life, not go out and get hurt some more!”

“Yeah, Drake, why would Carmine wanna get back on the field after this?!” Jenny shouted.

“But, I mean…” Drake hesitated, as if he really hadn’t considered that. “Well… okay. Is that what… you want, Carmine?”

“…” Carmine only stared at them, not even sparing a moan.

“Maybe we should step out for a minute.” Jenny suggested, slowly rolling out of there.

“Hmm…” Drake grunted in guilt as he awkwardly stepped out. Quill and Eddy shared a look before following.

Haruka sat at Carmine’s bedside, putting a gentle hand over Carmine’s blanketed one and smiling. “But yeah… we made a specially designed suit with a gentle plastic interior. You can walk around or touch things without feeling a strain on your body. But you might have to get readjusted to walking again. As for your diet, I recommend mostly water and soft foods.”

“Nnnmm…cn I rlly… cme bck… lke ths?”

“Can you really… come back? What do you mean?”

“Drke wnts mm… t’cme bck.”

“Drake wants you… Carmine, why would you want that?”

As Carmine answered, Haruka tried to make out her words more concisely: “People are gonna think I’m a freak. None of my classmates will wanna play with me. My friends will keep having to defend me, but they’ll always be away on missions, without me. Or maybe…maybe they’ll just quit, just to be with me.”

“You shouldn’t feel compelled to stay just for that.”

“But…but I don’t wanna leave. I wanna come back… for my friends. I wanna try… and be useful. When I’m a KND, I can help people. I don’t wanna stay helpless… and useless…”

“Well, even if you come back, I can’t say you won’t be picked on. …Maddy’s seen you a couple times, and… she didn’t make the most polite comments.”

“That’s okay… even if people pick on me… I don’t wanna feel useless… If I wear that suit, can I still go on missions with them?”

“In theory… yes. You couldn’t really run as fast as you used to, but wielding weapons or your bombs should still be fine.”

“Then I…I wanna come back. I don’t care… if I’m weak or sensitive… I just wanna try.”

“Okay then…” Haruka smiled understandingly. “Sorry for making you talk this much.”

A moment later, Sector Q reentered the room as Drake approached. “Soooo… I’m sorry if I made you feel pressured… Carmine. You don’t have to come back if you-”

“Don’t worry.” Haruka interrupted. “Carmine says… she wants to return.”

“Y…You do?”

“No, you don’t have to.” Jenny said. “Drake was just being inconsiderate, you should worry about getting better.”

“U…U wnt t…t’rtrn.”

“Carmine’s already decided that she wants to return.” Haruka explained. “She wants to keep being useful. Even if it’s dangerous, she wants to take the chance.”

“Are…are you sure?” Quill asked.

“Uhuh…wll you gys… lt m’ cme bck?”

“I…I don’t really know if we should.” Jenny said. “Should we let her?”

“She’ll need to get used to moving around again first.” Haruka answered. “After that… we’ll see how she does.”

“Then what’re we waiting for, let’s get her in that suit!” Drake cheered.

“You’re really inconsiderate.” Eddy said.

“Hu hu hu…” Carmine let out some laughs.

“The boys are gonna have to leave first.” Haruka said. “She’s kind of indecent.”

“Ah, good point!” Drake rushed out.

Carmine was carefully helped out of bed, trembling as she did so. She was steadily fixed into a brown suit with a gas mask. Within half an hour, she limped her way out of the medical wing, her friends supporting her. She had little vision through the dark lenses of the mask. “I can barely see… I feel so pathetic…” she spoke with a meek, muffled tone.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna change your mind?” Quill asked.

“No… I promise I’ll get better at moving. I won’t be a burden… I promise.”

“Well, we ain’t goin’ on any missions until you’re used to it.” Drake said. “But we’ll help you work on it!”

“Heh…thanks, Drake. So, what did I miss?”

“Like, A LOT!” Jenny exclaimed. “A bunch of sectors fought with Cheren’s evil opposite from the Negaverse, then we wound up in a war with some Nature Goddess! It’s still going on! She’s been dropping Reset Bomb things around the world; Sector W took out one, but we took out another, and…”

“Wow… that sounds really exciting.”

“Yeah, but… with your bombs, I bet we’d really sock it to them!”

“Y-yeah! I’ll try my best to get better!”

**Present time**

“And that’s basically the story…” Carmine wrapped up. By the time night had fallen, the friends were seated on the floor in Eddy’s room. They each had a cup with a frosty dessert of their choice, with Miko serving Eddy his mocha slushy.

“Aww, that’s so inspiring!” Miko cheered. “It’s so cute that Drake wanted you back!” _I kinda zoned out during the mission details, but that ending part! The feels!_

“Haha, yeah…” Carmine smiled, sipping water through a straw. “And because of the incident, Cheren bumped us up to the Number 6 sector. We were at Number 10 before, so… I guess risking your life does wonders for your score.”

“And now we’re in 5th place ’cause Sector DR got fired! Woo!” Drake cheered. “Still, some operatives were complaining about it being a ‘pity win,’ so we did our best to keep our place. Luckily, Carmine got herself ready in time for Halloween. She was the only one who didn’t dress up in an actual costume, so she didn’t get hit by Dracula’s curse. I ended up acting like Captain Hook, Quill became an elf, Eddy turned into a monkey, and Jenny became a real monster truck. Carmine was the only one still normal enough to fight Dracula’s vampires.”

“Yeah, but Sandman saved the day in the end…” Carmine said modestly.

“Who cares, you were still awesome!”

“Yeah!” Miko agreed, lightly spilling part of the slushy over Eddy. “Whoops, sorry.” The boy sighed in dismay. “But seriously, you guys should be bumped higher!”

“No, the Top 4 sectors have been through way more than we have.” Carmine said. “So have the lower ones. Honestly, I’m surprised we haven’t already dropped. Maybe we do still have our position out of pity…”

“Hey, just because we aren’t Chosen Ones, it shouldn’t say any less about us.” Jenny stated. “We did a lot for the KND and I say we’ve earned our place.”

“Especially now that you got me!” Miko cheered. “I can bump our score even higher!”

“You have a mess to clean up first.” Eddy pointed.

“Heheh, I’ll be right back.”

Miko went to get a washcloth and napkins to clean Eddy’s blanket. “But don’t you have to work at that Hinobi place tomorrow?” Quill asked.

“Yeah, I do. You guys gonna come to see it?”

“Wouldn’t pass it up!” Drake said. “It’s not every day that an operative has a part-time job!”

“Knowing what just happened, I feel a little uneasy about this place.” Carmine replied. “Wouldn’t they try to mind-wipe us if something bad happens?” 

“That… might be something I’ll have to bring up with the manager.” Miko said concernedly.

When time came for bed, the six teammates retired to their rooms. Carmine slipped out of her boots and gloves, leaving on her interior plastic gloves and socks. One of many things she had always missed were the cozy comfort of new socks, or the warmth of gloves on a winter day. Now her disgusting hands and feet could only accept the soulless feel of plastic. She would change them out daily, but it wasn’t enough variety. “Huuuu…” She released a sigh. She was thankful for Miko’s support, but couldn’t help but feel envious at the girl’s lush, colorful appearance. Still, Carmine enjoyed being around Miko more than certain others…

**Hinobi Stop**

The following day, Sector Q followed Miko to the Hinobi store, now established as the central building of a shopping center. “Boy, they really wanna stand out.” Eddy commented as they approached the wide, bright-blue, H-shaped entrance.

The inside of the store seemed relatively normal, with shelves full of games, some mini TVs and consoles where people could play demos, and a central desk area where the name ‘Hinobi’ wrapped around the blue exterior, along with the slogan, _The Future Is Fun_.

The group approached a chubby man at the desk. “Hey there! Name’s Miko, ready to start my new post!”

“Well, that makes one of us.” The gray-shirted man turned to them; he had light-brown hair and a beard.

 **REE!** Miko perked up so intensely that the “Alert” sound from _Metal Gear_ could be heard! “PHIL!!” She jumped over the desk and gripped the man in a hug. “You came with me! I knew you were gonna miss me!”

“Eh heh heh…” Phil chuckled sardonically. “Inspector 7 requested me to come and supervise you. I had no say in it. So yeah, thanks for making me leave my favorite donut shop.”

“Awwwww, it was my pleasure, Phil! So yeah, hey guys, this is Phil! My manager from Coruscant! Phil, this is Sector Q, they’re my new teammates!”

“So, you went from the D-Team to the Q-Team.” Phil remarked. “Boy, how they fall.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Quill asked.

“Ah, just a little joke.” Miko brushed off. “So anyway, Phil, I kinda wanted to go over some stuff.” She jumped topics quickly. “Like, is it okay if-”

Phil’s cellphone rang. He checked it and said, “Ugh, I gotta take this. Your uniform’s in the back, go get changed.” He walked off on that note.

“Well, feel free to check out the store, gang!” Miko said to her team as she left to go change.

Sector Q freely looked around the shop. Eddy was checking out cords and setups designed to accommodate consoles with Earth TVs. Quill was checking out games organized by series, such as _Chomp Kitty_ , _Castlestein_ , _Smashozaurs_ , or _Flunky Quest_. “Oooo, _Skidd McMarx Pro Hoverboarding 3_!” Jenny swiped the game case in question as she gracefully rolled by. “There’s a game I can get behind.”

“Hey, kid!” Phil yelled. “No skates in the store! You’re gonna knock something over.”

Jenny blew a raspberry at him, skating backwards as she—“WHOA!” she crashed into a shelf and knocked some games over.

“Ugh…Miko, your new friends are makin’ a mess!”

“I’ll get it!” Miko rushed out to start putting everything back. She was wearing white pants and a light-blue shirt, her bright violet hair in a bun.

“Wow, you look way more mature now.” Quill commented. “It’s almost kinda weird!”

“I know, uniforms just feel so dorky.” Miko said. “But hey, it’s nicer than wearing an apron!”

Carmine was looking at a game titled _Kill All Humans_ , which depicted stereotypical, round-headed aliens with bulbous black eyes shooting everywhere. “Wouldn’t this game be offensive on Coruscant?”

“Maybe it’s some kind of satire.” Drake figured.

The bell ringed as another customer walked in, a brown-haired girl with strong arms and red fingerless gloves. Her sleeveless blue top and shorts gave her the image of more of a gymnast than a gamer. “Ahoy! Welcome to Hinobi!” Miko called.

“Well, if it isn’t Maddy!” Drake greeted. “What’s up?”

“Drake?” As Maddy recognized the Sector Q members… her eyes were drawn to a particular one. Carmine, as well, turned to her. “Um…hey, Carmine.”

“…I’m gonna go.” Carmine decided, about to walk past Maddy and-

“Where ya goin’, you just got here!” Miko held her back cheerily.

“Uhhhh.” Drake put a hand to Miko’s shoulder. “She and Maddy… aren’t on good terms. I think we mentioned her during the story.”

“Oh…” Miko thinks she overlooked that part. “So, what happened?”

“Carmine, I said I was sorry.” Maddy said. “I always remember to buy stuff for your birthday, when’re you gonna stop being mad at me?”

“My pain doesn’t go away. Not just the physical pain.” Carmine turned elsewhere and walked away.

“Uhhh…” Miko drawled cluelessly. “So, something about a bad birthday? I can relate to that.”

“Maddy used to pick on Carmine after the accident.” Drake whispered. “Calling her contagious, kicking her away, and she got other classmates in on it… then she stopped coming to school for a couple months.”

“And it adds a little insult to injury when you started speaking up for Maddy.” Quill commented, the two just noticing their shorter friend behind them.

“Hey, I got dragged into space with her by that Nefarious creep. I could tell she was changing, and after all that crazy business was settled, she started trying to make up with Carmine. I told her Carmine’s birthday and her favorite toys, so Maddy always remembered to-”

“Will you guys stop talking about it?!” Carmine shouted, hearing them from across the room.

Miko bit her lip guiltily. Wanting to change the subject, she noticed the monitor Carmine was close to. “Hey, Carmine, check out this game!” She jogged over and directed her friend’s attention to it. “It’s a demo of _Aincrad_ , a big VR project Hinobi’s been working on! It’s only on console now, but you get to customize your own avatar with, like, a million different settings! And there’s like a hundred full kingdoms to explore! Doesn’t that sound cool?!”

“Um…yeah.”

Miko frowned. “…You know, one of the cool things about games is imagining yourself as someone else. It’s a good way to take your mind off life’s stressful moments.”

“Fine, I’ll give it a try.” Carmine clicked on the monitor and brought up the avatar customizations. “Um…” Her gloves were rather thick for the smallish controller.

“How ’bout I help you?” Miko took the device. “Which of these look cool?”

“Um, I guess…”

“Carmine, what else do you want me to do?” Maddy asked. “I already beat up the kids who were still picking on you. Got detention for it, too.”

“You still don’t know how I feel. You’re always obsessed with getting stronger while I just get weaker. I can’t get strong like you.”

“But you learned Observation Haki and first aid, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but even then… I wasn’t even brave enough to go to New Galaxia. I just knew I wouldn’t be reliable.”

“Well, there was no shame in staying behind.”

“So, you agree.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Okay, I think I made something!” Miko announced. “What do you think about this one?”

Carmine studied the avatar: it looked like a blue-robed swordswoman with a long, black ponytail, sharp fierce eyes, and a katana. “Well, it’s certainly not me.”

“Oh, did you… want it to look more like you?”

“I’m not really sure that she wants to play at all.” Eddy commented.

“Forget it, I’ll play.” Carmine took the controller to push the ‘A’ button and confirm the avatar; however, her bulky finger pushed the ‘Back’ button at the same time. “Darn it!”

In that instant, the game was confused by her choice, unsure whether she was affirming or backtracking. As a result, the device sparked as a pixelly substance began to cover Carmine’s body. “AAAH! What’s happening?! Is this part of the game?!”

“Oh, nerds!” Miko cursed, readying her gauntlet.

Hearing the commotion, Phil looked over. His eyes widened as Carmine underwent a familiar transformation. “Uh, I’m gonna have to call you back.” He said as he hung up. “Miko, take care of it, I’ll lock this place down and start mind-wiping-”

Jenny threw a kick to Phil’s belly to knock him down, leaving Drake to bind him with rope. “About that, we need to talk to you.” Drake said.

“C-Carmine!” Miko was aghast as their friend morphed into the very swordswoman she had designed. “Is that you in there?”

“I…I feel different.” The warrior spoke in a glitchy version of Carmine’s voice. “I feel… kind of nimble.” She slashed the air a bit. “And it feels kinda good!”

“Hang on, I’ll have this thing fixed in-” Miko shot the Derez Ray over the monitor, but reactively jumped away when Carmine slashed her. “Carmine?!”

“My name is Carmurai! And now that I’ve been reborn, I will seek vengeance on those who wronged me!”

“I didn’t think she was into roleplaying!” Jenny said. “And Carmurai’s a dumb name!”

“Eh, that was the name I inputted.” Miko blushed. “Y’know, it was a samurai, her name’s Carmine, so… Ahem, but I think this is a Possessor Glitch! They take control of people and turn them into whatever character they’re playing!”

“I dunno what’s going on,” Maddy said, “but how do we fix—HEY!” She dodged Carmine’s slash.

“Maddith of Malefor, you will pay for what you did to me!” Carmine viciously slashed at Maddy, but the fighter was quick to dodge her attacks.

Maddy then grabbed Carmine’s sword in her hardened hand. “Fine, if this is how you wanna settle it!” She crushed the digital sword, but Carmine jumped away as it reformed. Maddy swung her iron-hard fists at the samurai, but Carmine moved her legs in evasion. She stabbed down, but Maddy dodged right and went for the hip, but Carmine leapt and stomped Maddy’s head. Maddy endured the attack and tried to grab Carmine’s ankle in both hands, but Carmine leapt away and did a downward slash, which Maddy avoided. Maddy attempted to use Conqueror’s Haki, but the Glitch appeared resistant to the effect. And yet, when Maddy followed this with a kick to the stomach, the samurai made no effort to avoid as she slammed into a shelf of games, knocking them down.

“It’s having a hard time derezzing the system.” Miko reported, shining the ray over the console. “Maybe you guys can help beat her down a bit?”

“We could, but… I feel like we should just let Maddy handle it.” Drake figured.

“So, Carmine _is_ partly in control.” Maddy observed. “You were avoiding my attacks before because of her Observation, but when I used Conqueror’s, her consciousness couldn’t handle it, so I could hit you.”

“I…I am Carmurai of Clamland! I will not let my honor be defiled!” She resumed slashing at Maddy, and when Maddy threw punches back, Carmine was dodging again. Maddy assumed she had recovered consciousness.

“Carmine, I’ve already apologized a bunch for how I treated you. But maybe you should start giving yourself some more credit! You may not be super strong, but you’re better than you think you are, so don’t let me make you feel ashamed!” With one last solid punch to Carmine’s stomach, the samurai fell over, her pixelly body breaking to pieces to reveal the suited girl underneath. Miko was then able to fully derez the rogue Program.

“Phew… that wasn’t so bad.” Miko smiled. “The last Possessor we dealt with was way tougher.”

“Yeah, well Maddy doesn’t pull punches herself.” Drake said. “It’s not surprising…”

“You okay, Carmine?” Maddy asked, bending over her.

“Oooooo…I feel… kinda sick now…”

“I wasn’t sure how hard I had to hit you. I didn’t want it to be too bad…”

“Well… thanks.”

“But, were you… actually trying to hurt me?”

“Not exactly… but I was awake. I dodged whenever you punched me, but the samurai did most of the attacks. But part of me… was also kind of enjoying it.”

“She’s a hella good dodger though!” Drake cheered. “Maddy had to use Conqueror’s to win!”

“I didn’t really use Conqueror’s at the end.” Maddy corrected. “Carmine hesitated on her own.”

“Yeah… I appreciated what you said.” Carmine replied.

“So, do you forgive me?”

“…No. Now I just feel embarrassed.”

“Want me to help you up?”

“I don’t want you to help me!”

“Well, I don’t wanna leave you on the floor.”

“Just move. I can… get up… if I try…” Carmine quivered as she tried to hoist her upper body up. She bent her leg to plant her shoe to the floor, trying to push herself up. “Hnnnn…there.” She put the other foot down, but had to lean on a shelf. “I get knocked around a lot on missions, I know how to help myself.”

“What a touching development.” Phil remarked. “Can you guys untie me now?”

“Eh, sorry!” Drake grinned, retracting his rope.

“Alright then…” The manager helped himself up and brushed off. “I just got a call from someone higher up. Non-Hinobi KND operatives aren’t exempt from-”

“Come on, don’t wipe their minds, Phil!” Miko pled. “You see how tough they are, they’re just as good at fighting glitches as we are!”

“I can see that, but we can’t have too many witnesses. I tried talking with corporate about this, but they said if the regular KND handle this problem too much, the customers won’t think we’re reliable enough. That’s why we have to wipe their memories, too.”

“But if you wipe their memories now, Maddy and Carmine will forget this touching experience! Besides, we can trust them to help keep the secret! They’re not gonna blab to everyone! Right?”

“Hmph…” Eddy huffed.

“I mean, we don’t have a reason to at the moment…” Quill replied, “but I still don’t know how to feel about the whole thing.”

“Phil, if more KND know about the glitch problems, they’ll be ready to help deal with it.” Miko reasoned. “Can’t we at least try to talk with them?”

“I’m not using those memory-wipe gizmos.” Eddy stated. “Not just for my eyes, but it’s just an awful practice.”

“You’re not helping my case…”

Phil released a sigh. “You know what… fine. I’ll make an exception for you guys.”

“You will?! Really?!”

“Just don’t go telling too many people, or you’ll make trouble for BOTH of us.” Phil stated strictly. “And you’d better fix these shelves, kiddo!”

“You got it!” Miko saluted and got to work.

“So, why the sudden change of heart?” Eddy asked.

“Let’s just say, I still got my own questions for Hinobi.” Phil answered. “So, it’s nice to have some leverage around.” With that, he left to the back room.

“I’m getting a lot of red flags from this company.”

“So, like, these Hinobi guys wipe peoples’ memories whenever their games come to life like that?” Maddy asked after hearing Quill’s explanation.

“Yeah, they need to ‘maintain a good relationship with their customers.’”

“Huh…how pathetic.” Maddy cracked a smirk.

“How come you’re here, anyway?” Jenny asked.

“I’m looking for a new game for Zach. He was banned from all game stores for replacing all the discs with donuts, while the real discs went to get jobs hunting foxes for robots.”

“Everything about that made perfect sense!” Miko perked up.

In his office, Phil was using a small, floating robot named BITT to hack into the building’s security network. He began deleting all footage of the incident. “There. If corporate doesn’t want anyone to know about Glitches, they don’t have to know either.”

_“But Hinobi Corporate requires daily updates regarding any memory-wiped customers or potential-”_

“Yeah yeah, they don’t gotta know everything. Not until I figure out why they…”

_“Hey, Phil! It’s me, Phil! If you don’t remember making this video, it’s because you probably got memory-wiped by someone at the company again. Y’know… how they do that. Thankfully, BITT has enough memories for the both of us! So, when all else fails, he’ll protect the file we recovered from Hinobi’s development lab on his cartridge.”_

“Why can’t you just tell me what the password is, BITT?” Phil questioned.

_“Your exact orders were to never divulge your secrets to anyone, including you!”_

“Sigh, me and my big brain. Well, I’ll crack my own code eventually. Just you wait.”


	4. Cousin Rivalry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Jenny invites her cousin, Mike Strongarm to hang out with her friends at a skate park, some rivalry surfaces between them. However, their fun is interrupted when they are sent on a mission to deal with... circus freaks?

**The Gameverse does not endorse Tony Hawk or his lame animated feature, _Boom Boom Sabotage_! Nah, but even bad movies deserve to be remembered. …It had pretty gross scenes though.**

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Chapter 4: Cousin Rivalry

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**Lincolnville**

Skateboard City was an indoor skate park where the ramps towered like buildings, resembling a miniature city. The Sector Q agents watched as Jenny soared down a towering ramp, and after flying up the other side, she did a backflip, diagonal-left flip, kicked skyward three times, dealt rapid punches to either side, followed by turning upside-down and clacking her heels, and curving upright just in time to land on the next ramp. It swerved down like a whirlpool, where she performed twirls, cartwheels, then skated backwards while crouching down and kicking “forward.” She did all this while maintaining a constant turn on the spiral. Jenny then jumped off and across a set of platforms, doing jumping jacks with each one, and finally rejoined her teammates on the predestined Goal platform.

“Yo, those were some sick moves, yo!” Miko cheered. “That’s what they say, right?”

“I think so.” Quill shrugged.

“Yo, you still got the moves, Cous!” They looked up at Mike Strongarm, mounted on a bike on an overhead track. Mike wore a white and purple helmet, white T-shirt with purple sleeves, with purple pants and sneakers. “But let’s see if you can top this!”

Mike pedaled across the relatively narrow track, doing twirls on the back wheel before switching to the front. He then dropped to a perpendicular track down below, quickly recovering momentum. There were several mini ramps along this road, and he went up one, jumped with a flip, and landed back on his bike just in time to turn rightward and go up another ramp. On this jump, he flipped upside-down with his hand propped on the seat. The bike flew away from that track and onto another one, and Mike reseated as he jumped the bike and pedaled it along a curving wall. He bounced off that wall to land on a rail, staying balanced on it as he lay back against the seat, did a few situps, then some yoga stretches. The rail went up a loop, so Mike leapt and did three air-rolls as his bike went over the loop and returned to catch him.

“Man, your brother’s a champ!” Miko cheered.

“Cousin, actually.” Jenny corrected.

“Ah, right, I forgot.”

“It’s actually weird because, my mom is actually his dad’s sister. But my dad had a really dumb last name, and like, no way was that gonna be my surname. Strongarm sounds MUCH more dignified!”

Drake whispered to Miko, “Her last name would’ve been Donghickey.”

“Ohhhhhh…”

Mike eventually returned to the platform, doing a sideways flip as he kicked his bike to the air, then made the full rotation to land on his feet. “That’s how it’s done, Cous!” He held his hand out to catch the bike by the wheel.

“Yeah, boast all you want. You have plenty of time to practice when you’re not on dangerous missions.”

“I’ve been on as many missions as you!”

“Then why aren’t you in the Top 10, anymore?”

“W-Well, I…I can’t help that those other sectors got better missions!”

“Yeah, but we’re still ahead of them.”

“W-Well…ugh, forget it.” Mike set the bike down in a huff.

“Aww, a little family rivalry?” Miko cooed.

“Nah, he’s just a little insecure.” Jenny teased. “Ever since we were little, he always loved to show off how much better he was on a bike. Even when I decided rollers were better, he was always determined to be better than me, but look who’s ahead on the leaderboards?”

“Yeah, well it’s not a contest, anyway.” Mike argued. “Even during the Nature War, we helped Emily destroy the factory, and you got to fight a Nature Lieutenant.”

“Yeah, and I busted my leg trying to beat Lieutenant Greenburger! That’s way more than busting a few minions.”

“Well…” Mike could make the argument that Sector Q only had their score due to Drake and Carmine’s injuries, but that seemed a little insensitive. “Fine, you got me there. But if you were just going to mock me, why’d you even invite me here at all?”

“I just wanted to show our new teammate our skills. I didn’t ask for an argument.”

“You started it!”

“Did I?”

“Oh, stir me up a chocolate milkshake, it’s the Strongarm siblings!” The source of this eccentric voice came from a light-brown-haired man in a pale blue suit and a tall, rectangular head. His voice was effeminate, and he rode on a hover pad. “And you brought your little KND buddies! Oh, the purple girl is new. Mmm, and so fresh-looking!”

“Uh, I’m not fit for eating here.” Miko said.

“What’s up, Mr. Dullard?” Mike greeted. “And I think you mean cousins. Miko, this guy’s the owner of this joint.”

“Extreme sports are the way of the future, Miko! And you Kids Next Door are proof of that! After all, nothing gets more extreme than what you kids do.”

“I always thought extreme sports were out of fashion.” Miko said.

“Only because of bad cartoons.” Jenny replied. “But some of us are still hanging in there.”

“Perish the thought!” Dullard expressed. “As the world keeps evolving, so does extreme sports! Videogames, technology, transportation, if these things can evolve, so can sports!”

“That’s kinda like Hinobi!” Miko said. “Their slogan is-”

“But listen, you kids came at the right time.” Dullard said in a more serious tone. “I need your help dealing with a couple of circus freaks.”

“Circus freaks?” Quill asked. “Well, that’s an odd request from a skate park owner.”

“These aren’t just any circus freaks, kids. These hoodlums have been on my nerves for months!” Dullard pulled up a remote and pressed it, switching on a large TV on the ceiling. It displayed images of various parks either burned to ash or destroyed. “As you can see, this has been happening to all my lovely recreational areas across the country! This is no coincidence: it has to be the work of THIS nasty group!” He switched to an image of a circus camp. “The Old Tyme Circus troupe, ooooog!”

“Uh, okay?” Eddy replied. “And do you have proof?”

“I’ll tell you the proof! Those has-been carnies are sad because they lost their license! That’s what they get for accidentally setting their tent on fire during a show! Now they’re trying to get revenge by burning down all the skate parks, leaving kids with no other source of entertainment.”

“Like videogames, playgrounds, normal parks…” Miko counted her fingers. “And some people like libraries, I think?”

“Then perhaps skate parks were just the beginning!” Dullard said. “They’ll destroy everything in their path just to lure people to their crummy circus!”

“This just sounds really weird…” Mike said. “Though I think I’ve heard reports about this. Parks going up in flames in the dead of night.”

“Has anyone gotten hurt?” Jenny asked.

“Are you kidding me?!” Dullard exclaimed. “Of course! My poor soul aches every time I wake up to the dreadful news of one of my lovely parks, taken from me! Also, I, uh, heard they hurt a puppy.”

“HUUUUU!” Miko’s face shrunk with her gasp. “NO! We have to avenge THE PUPPY!”

“Alright, let’s at least check these carnies out.” Drake said. “Before we go in guns blazing, we’ll try to gather info first. Where are they camped at?”

**Hazbin Jungle; a few hours later**

The circus camp was hidden somewhere in the jungle. The carnies looked like misshapen hillbillies: one was wearing a bee costume, another had a big nose and his eyes hidden under his hat, and there was a convertible with four gangster clowns driving circles around the camp. They listened to rap music as they patrolled the jungle.

Eddy saw the convertible driving around the path. Once it was close, he quickly rolled out. The car drove over him, but he latched his hands and shoes to the bottom with plunger attachments. Eddy tolerated the pounding of the beats until the car eventually came to a park at the camp. The clowns climbed out of the car as their chubby leader said, “Yo, why we have to do patrol, ain’t no one gonna come snoopin’ around no jungle! It’s ridiculous! Let’s git some pie, clowns.”

Seeing them walk away, Eddy dropped to the ground and discretely surveyed the area. Making sure none of the carnies were looking, he crawled his way behind a boulder. He steadily made his way to an orange carriage where the boss was likely stationed. Eddy crawled under the carriage and got behind it. He then climbed to the window and peeked in.

A man who appeared to be the ringleader was watching an old, mini TV. He had brown hair that stuck out in the bottom back, an orange ringleader shirt with light-brown tights, and yellow shoes. He had a long nose and tall forehead.

The vision from Eddy’s glasses was displayed on Quill’s handheld monitor. The Q operatives, along with Mike were hidden behind a rock in the jungle, near the road that the clown car drove by. “They look like they’ve seen better days.” Carmine commented. “But they don’t actually look evil.”

“Yeah, but why go hiding in the jungle, anyway?” Drake wondered.

“I dunno.” Eddy whispered. “We need more evidence… but how would-”

“’ey, Boss!” A short, pudgy cowboy-looking man kicked open the carriage door. He had a red hat with a skull, a left hook hand, and a bad left eye. “I got the gasoline! We shippin’ out tonight?”

“Brilliant, Hamshank!” the ringleader exclaimed, springing out of his seat. “Yes! Our next target is Camden Skate Park! We’ll wipe it off the face of the Earth!”

“Whoa! He’s right to the point!” Eddy silently gasped.

“’ey, Boss, I tried one of them weird fruits we got from the Brotherhood. It tasted yucky, but I can shoot milk outta mah head.” Hamshank removed his hat as a volcano of milk spurted out.

“OH, that would look marvelous for our show! The Spectacular Volcano Man! Those Brotherhooders will put us back on top, Hamshank! We’ll destroy skate parks all across the nation, nay, the world! My cousin will reap in the misery he sowed in me! Larry Grimley will be on top again!”

“Problems with his cousin?” Jenny remarked. “Pfft, that’s a coincidence.”

“Yeah.” Mike said sardonically. “Well, it sounds like Mr. Dullard was right after all. They even got it in with the Brotherhood. Should we stop them?”

“Yeah, but we shouldn’t rush in, yet.” Drake replied. “Eddy, it sounds like those carnies got Devil Fruits. Try and look around for a storage room or something. There could be shipping crates with instructions on what fruits they are or how they work. If they try to use them, we’ll be ready.”

“It’s kinda sad.” Carmine said. “I kinda like the circus. Do you like circuses, Miko?”

It was then they realized they were one player short, a digital outline left where she should be. “Miko?”

“Aaaaaahhh-YAAAAH!” The carnies looked up from their drinking when a violet-haired girl suddenly came running in on a red ostrich. “I’ll protect the game stores before you ever HURT THEM!” Miko returned Ally to her gauntlet as her purple hammer emerged, jumping to smash it down on some carnies. One of the gangster clowns chucked bowling balls with his Bowl-Bowl Fruit, and as Miko jumped them, point prompts appeared like _Donkey Kong_! An eyepatch carnie turned into a sky bison and flew to crush Miko beneath his six legs, and another morphed into a snot blob and slithered over to bind Miko, using his Logia Snot-Snot Fruit.

“Darn!” Drake yelled. “She’s started without us! We gotta catch up!”

“I’m on it!” Jenny began skating up the road.

“Jenny!” Mike yelled. “Guys, in here!” He held up an Infi-Cube for the others to jump in. He then mounted his bike and drove after.

The Strongarms reached the camp as the teammates jumped out. “YO, those kids jumped out of a li’l box!” one of the clowns yelled. “That’s our shtick, yo!”

“’ey, you clowns don’t steal another clown’s shtick!” the boss clown stated. “Let’s get ’em!”

Quill shot fire from his Elementors to make the bison carnie back off of Miko. He switched to ice to freeze the snot man, and Miko mustered the strength to break free of the ice. “AAAGH!” Larry Grimley cried, walking out to see the commotion. “Where did these meddling hoodlums come from?!”

“There’s the boss!” Mike and Jenny rolled over.

“Let’s ring this ringleader!” Jenny declared.

“AAAH! Hamshank! Get your bottom on me and get me out of here!” Grimley morphed into a bike with his face above the front wheel. Hamshank sat himself on Grimley’s rump-seat and pedaled Grimley’s hand-pedals. “Ooo-hoo-hoo, you’ve put on weight, Hamshank~”

Mike and Jenny raced after the carnies! As Larry and Hamshank escaped through the jungle, the henchman chugged down a gallon of milk. He took off his hat to shoot milk at the Strongarms, the cousins easily dodging the projectiles. Hamshank replaced his hook with a sword and sliced trees down, the Strongarms jumping them—Jenny nearly fell into a narrow ravine, but she spread her legs so she could skate along the sides.

Mike pedaled up a long and leaning tree to get above the carnies. He then dropped down to bounce on Hamshank’s head, dizzying the henchman as the impact caused Grimley to veer rightward. “HAMSHAAAANK!” Grimley cried as they rolled down a slope and went up a rock ramp, flying over a garden of snakes. They landed on the other side and pedaled along the edge. Mike pedaled along the opposite edge, watching as Hamshank drank beer. He shot beer blasts that Mike ducked, though he also had to jump small rocks.

Jenny had caught up, but she was rolling within the snake field itself. She was doing hop-skip techniques to stay between and evade the snakes, closing the gap to Grimley. She jumped to kick the back wheel, causing them to spin around, but they regained control of their selves and pedaled away from the snakes. Mike found a bridge to pedal over and join Jenny, the cousins chasing the villains into a cave. The cave sloped up as Hamshank tried to shoot beer within the darkness, but the cousins were prepared and swapped to Nightvision goggles. They dodged rocks in the road, and Hamshank switched to a hammer hand to bash the wall and make stalactites fall. The Strongarms rolled along the walls to avoid some of these obstacles.

They exited the cave and found their selves on a cliff area. There was a long, swervy wooden slide set up by the carnies. Grimley and Hamshank escaped down it, so the Strongarms pursued. Despite the steep momentum and the sharp turns, the Strongarms stayed balanced on the slide… that is, until Jenny flew off the side of one part. However, as she calculated, she landed on a later part of the slide, and could use the momentum to go up it. While the carnies were hurriedly fleeing from Mike, Grimley gasped when Jenny suddenly flew up for a firm STOMP to his stretched face!

The bike abruptly stopped, causing Hamshank to fly off the slide. The slide would have let off close to the camp. As Hamshank growled up at the slide- “WHOA!” he was shot by Drake’s harpoon.

“Sorry, buddy! The circus is cancelled this year!” Drake declared. Hamshank switched back to his sword hand, and Drake’s hand changed to a sword as they clashed. When Hamshank did a stab, Drake suddenly switched to a tennis racket and caught the sword, hauling Hamshank to the ground, followed by a kick to the stomach. Hamshank was forced off as Drake leapt onto his stomach and stomped the henchman’s face, KOing him.

Mike had leapt onto Grimley’s seat and worked to pedal the ringleader down the rest of the slide. “You! Get your muddy shoes off my hands!” Grimley yelled, his face now dented in the shape of Jenny’s rollers.

“I’ll happily oblige!” Within seconds, they had launched off the end of the slide. Mike performed a flip with Grimley, but instead of traditionally landing on the wheels, Mike leapt off and let him crash face-first. Grimley’s body morphed back to normal, propped upside-down with his legs bent over him.

Quill had finished defeating the sky bison carnie. The gangster clowns had gotten back in their convertible to chase after the bikers, but Eddy was clinging under the car again. He slipped one of Carmine’s bombs into the exhaust port to explode the car, the clowns flying separate directions. Carmine herself tossed Sleeping Gas bombs to weaken the other carnies, allowing Miko to KO them. “Phew! Mission accomplished!” Drake declared.

The seven operatives sent a call to Arctic Prison. A group of S.P.R.A.Y.S.H.I.P.s arrived to load the villains onboard, with Aaron and Rhilliane escorting Grimley onto theirs. “You won’t get away with this, you meddlesome kids! I know Dullard put you up to this! I’ll get back at both of you! Before you even know it! And I’ll kick your meddling bottoms!”

“Man, I was thinking the author would never remember us.” Aaron remarked, pushing Grimley into the cell and closing it.

“Our next chapter will probably be another five years.” Rhilliane said.

“Man, it’s refreshing to fight regular villains once in a while!” Miko exclaimed.

“What kinds of villains _do_ you fight?” Mike asked.

“Uh…you know!”

“Anyway, those were wicked moves you were pulling, Cous!”

“Yeah, it’s safe to say I won this one!” Jenny beamed.

“Uh…you were supposed to compliment me.”

“Well, driving up that tree was pretty cool, plus the way you finished him off. But you couldn’t have done that without me~”

“Yeah, that’s what teamwork is all about. We both did our part.”

“I reckon!”

“Y-Yeah, we… forget it.”

“Come on, stop being awkward, you two!” Miko got between them with arms wrapped around either. “Let’s get back to Skateboard City! I barely even got to show off my moves!”

“We have to file a mission report to Global Command.” Quill said. “Well… I guess this mission came from Mr. Dullard, not Moonbase… so, I guess we could go there first.”

“I still got a bit of skate in me!” Drake agreed. “Let’s go!”

…

However, as Aaron and Rhilliane were making the flight to Arctic Base, Grimley turned his left pinky into a metal bike wheel string. He stuck it into the lock of his handcuffs and picked around until they came off. The carnie snickered evilly as he then picked the cell vent. He quietly crawled up to the unsuspecting 45 cousins. “YAAAH!” He turned his hands into bike wheels that he used to strangle the cousins. “Now you better fly this thing to Skateboard City or I’ll have your NECKS!”

“AACK! Okay! Okay!” Aaron squirmed.

**Skateboard City**

“YAHOOOO!” Miko performed a diagonal back-flip before landing on the rail, maintaining excellent balance. “This rocks!”

“Whoa, Miko!” Jenny yelled. “Have you always been this good?!”

“At skateboard/hoverboarding games?! Yeah! I just took a page from them!”

“Nice! I’m glad she’s on MY team, eh, Mike?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mike asked. “You hoping she’ll boost you up to Number 1 or something?”

“You never know, she could!”

Mike sighed, walking away from her. “Okay, I’m sorry!” Jenny rolled after. “You’re right, you were a big help in that battle.”

“Honestly, you make me feel like I’m useless most of the time. Ever since you outranked me, you tease me about it, talking about how much cooler your missions are… and now that I got bumped down below those other sectors, it makes it even worse.”

“Well, it’s just… you always like to show off your biker skills and you always beat me at this stuff, so… I guess I just feel a bit competitive…”

“Well…” Mike thought back to another point he wanted to make. “You know part of the reason your sector has that score is because of Drake and Carmine’s accidents, right? So, when you boast about it, you’re basing it off their pain.”

“Er…I… guess you’re right.” Jenny bit her lip guiltily.

“I get that my teammates didn’t live through anything like that, but that’s no reason to brag about it.”

“Fine, I get your point. Just… forget the whole thing.”

“Mmm-mmm, ain’t that the finest news I heard in ages!” Mr. Dullard expressed after the others gave him a recap. “I never have to worry about those messy circus animals ever again!”

“There’s one thing I don’t quite understand.” Eddy said. “Why were they only attacking skate parks? And… was it just _your_ skate parks in particular?”

“Oh, don’t question the thought processes of circus people. People who don’t think of the future can barely think at all! Hoo hoo!”

The operatives shared a curious glance. “Y’know, there was one other thing he said that was a bit weird.” Drake said. “He said that-”

The wall BURST open as the S.P.R.A.Y.S.H.I.P. came crashing onto the floor! The operatives ducked from the sudden event, with Miko slowing down in shock. “AAAAAHHH!” Grimley leapt out of the ship, the Doblemitz cousins in his wheeled hands. He slammed them to the floor before stomping toward Dullard. “JOHN! I knew it was you that sent these runts after me!”

“Stop right there!” Drake and co. jumped to block his path. “You’re no match for all of us!”

“You Kids Next Door are supposed to be heroes, aren’t you? Then attack him!” He shot a finger at Dullard. “He’s the one who started it!”

“I moved toward the future, Larry!” Dullard argued. “You’re the one who’s still stuck in the past!”

“That gave you no right to destroy my dream! All I wanted was to bring smiles and laughter to the children, but you ruined it! You destroyed my circus!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Drake exclaimed. “What’s he talkin’ about?”

“Lies, that’s what!” Dullard stated. “Hurry and bag this crook! I can’t stand the sight of him!”

“You did it, John! Admit it! You destroyed my circus! You’re the one that started the fire!”

“Larry, you wanted the silly ring of fire, and all the other silly burnie stuff, it’s no surprise that accidents would happen! It’s your own fault.”

“YOU MISERABLE… I’LL-” Larry lunged to strangle him, but Jenny flew up with her foot stretched to stop him.

“You know, there’s only one fair way to settle this.” Drake decided. “Calling Miyuki from Sector IC.”

“Huh?” Miko cocked a brow. “Why?”

“Ah, you’ll find out.” Quill nodded.

**One phone call later**

They made sure the adults stayed put during the time it took Miyuki Crystal to arrive. The white-haired, pigtailed timebender approached the men and placed hands to either belly.

_“What do you mean you’re leaving, John?!” Larry asked, equipped with a hat and cane._

_“Open your eyes, Larry, the circus is lame. Extreme sports, now THAT’S the way of the future!”_

_“That retired fad? What makes you think you can bring THAT back?!”_

_“The Kids Next Door, of course! Lookin’ at all the extreme stuff they do on the news, some kids wanna join them while most kids wanna pretend! They’ll be skateboarding up and down the parks pretending they’re in big action scenes! Even the actual operatives will wanna use them for training or something! That’s why I’m gonna make it big in the skate park business!”_

_“Fine! Go and dig your little skate parks! But when those kids want to rest and laugh, they’ll be flocking to the circus!”_

_“Heh! We’ll see about that!”_

_A couple years passed as both cousins moved on with their businesses. While Dullard had gotten his fair share of customers, there were still one too many people visiting Grimley’s circus. The idea greatly disgusted Dullard. Why were those many kids still into crummy circuses? Dullard felt the need to ‘save’ them and give them the exercise they needed._

_So one day, Dullard snuck into the circus during one of the performances. When he saw the troupe members taking back the ring of fire, Dullard snuck out of the audience and set his plan into motion. He pulled out a lighter and discretely set the tent aflame._

_“It wasn’t my fault, John! Hamshank promised they put the fire on the ring out, he wouldn’t lie to me!”_

_“Well, I dunno what to tell you, Larry.” Dullard shrugged. “But it looks like you’re outta business either way.”_

_“Just spare me a few bucks! At least enough so I can get back on track!”_

_“You were already off track, Larry! You chose a crummy career in circustry over the future. Now, get out of my office!”_

_“How could you say that?! Don’t you feel the least bit sympathy?! People still liked the circus! I had the stands nearly full!”_

_“Too full if you ask me! SOMETHING had to get those poor kids outta there!”_

_“What… You…YOU did it!”_

_“Uh, excuse me?”_

_“You started the fire, didn’t you?!”_

_“Uh, as if!” Dullard smiled wryly. “Don’t start blaming me for YOUR messes.”_

_“RAAAAH! I’LL KILL YOU!”_

“I knew it was you, John!” Larry shouted. “It was you ALL along!”

“I did you a favor, Larry! You refused to move toward the future.”

“That wasn’t the problem! You just didn’t like the circus. You’re a petty excuse for a grown man!”

“Yeah? Well, you’re no cousin of mine. You’re dead to me, Larry!”

“RAAAAAH!” And Grimley lunged at him in bloody fury.

Both adults engaged in a silly slap fight. They looked like a couple of deformed, oversized cats clashing their paws. “You smug, wide-faced traitor!” Grimley yelled.

“Big-nosed psycho clown!”

“We were family, John! We both have six toes!”

“Not anymore! I had mine removed, and donated to the children’s hospital!”

The operatives merely watched them with baffled, questioning expressions. “…You know, this opened my eyes a bit.” Mike said.

“Yeah. I hope we don’t end up like these guys.” Jenny replied.

“Yeah…” They stared in silence for a moment as their bout went nowhere. “Well, Dullard may have started it, but Grimley still made a deal with the Brotherhood, right? He still destroyed those other parks.”

“Yep. I guess they’re both kind of awful.”

“So, how about another team-up, Cous?”

“You bet.”

Jenny’s shoe KO’ed Larry and Mike’s fist downed Dullard.

The operatives proceeded to drag them back to the S.P.R.A.Y.S.H.I.P.. “Does that mean this place will go out of business?” Carmine asked.

“Frank’s the assistant manager here.” Mike replied. “He’s a cool guy, he’ll probably take it over.”

“Hey, can we check out my score before we leave?” Miko asked.

“Sure.” Jenny and Mike followed her to the scoreboard, in which cameras would record each person on the course and apply points based on their techniques. Miko currently had the top spot at, “35,000?!”

“WOO!” Miko cheered. “Is that scorebending or what?!”

“Heh, looks like we have a new rival, Mike!”

“Oh, boy…” Mike smiled with exasperation.

“Well, this was worth missing Suki’s friend’s party.” Miyuki commented as they exited the building. Above the exit was a large board, depicting Mr. Dullard saying, _You are now leaving… THE FUTURE._

“Sorry, Miyuks. Have you met our new friend, Miko?” Drake asked.

“Hey, nice clocks!” Miko praised.

“Thanks. I predict you’ll be great friends with Sheila.”

“Oh, don’t give her the idea.” Eddy said.

**Hinobi H.Q.**

Screams rang from the depths of the headquarters. A black Mobian jackal with fiery white hair was strapped to a machine, sapping him of his chi. “Raaaaah! Nngh…” he grunted in a gruff voice. “Damn you, Kayaba… you’ll pay for this!”

“My friend, your chi was wasted with those petty mercenaries. A rare matterbender such as yourself should use your power for much greater things.” Spoke a thin and ordinary man hiding in the shadows.

“I’ll kill you! Aaaaagh!”

“Don’t squirm so much. It only hurts more. All I want is to create a perfect world. It may be painful now, but you’ll understand once it is over. Now, if you’ll excuse me… I have another subject to check on.” And so, he left the chamber.

“Aaaaaaaaaggghhh!”


	5. Hinobi Kart Mini

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An accident occurs as Miko gets Quill to try a miniature Hinobi racecar. Miko begins to question her faith in Hinobi.

**Did you know that the first game I ever played was _Mario Kart 64_? Hehe, and they recently came out with a toy Mario Kart with a camera that you can drive around with a view from your Switch!**

****

**_

Chapter 5: Hinobi Kart Mini

_**

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**James Woods Elementary; 9:00 a.m.**

A black racecar with white streaks whooshed across the pavement of the school’s playground. It zoomed across a field-sized basketball court, expertly dodging the giant-sized kids playing their sport. It swerved and zoomed up a chalk-drawn racetrack, outrunning the giant racers, then it zoomed under a jump-roping girl just as she had leapt and the rope passed. It was then that a series of gigantic wheels carrying humongous shoes began to chase it. The gap was extremely tight as Jenny pursued the tiny car, making several tight turns. The car steadfastly sped faster toward the finish line, represented by Miko’s shoes. The car passed as Miko threw a punch to shove Jenny back.

“WOO! New record!” Quill declared, holding the remote control.

“Wow, nice driving!” Miko praised, picking the car up. “These tiny wheels got a lot of juice!”

“Jenny and Mike may have their sports, but remote car racing is a whole different ballpark!” Quill declared with confidence. “Sure, it can’t outrace the benders like Sheila or Wendy, but outpacing Jenny is good enough for me.”

“Yo, gang!” They looked over as a boy in a black sweater and a blue streak in his black hair approached. “I thought I saw a little car zooming around.”

A candy-haired girl with a cyan hoodie glitched up to Sector Q. “You ever been in a REAL racecar, Quill?” She glitched to sit on Drake’s shoulder. “I mean, remote cars are cool, but it doesn’t match the thrill of a real race!”

Miko gasped. “A GLITCH!” She whipped out her hammer and BASHED Vanellope across the playground. Miko ran after and tried to smash her, but Vanel glitched to evade. “Yo, what’s the big idea, did I say a bad word or something?!”

“What’re you doing to my sister?!” Dillon ran up as he and his shadow, Mario grabbed Miko.

“Your… sister?”

Drake came up and said, “We probably should’ve mentioned, but…” he explained Vanellope’s origins.

“Ohhhhhh.” Miko retracted the hammer. “Uh…sorry!”

“You’re that new girl, aren’t you?” Dillon asked. “Right, Maddy told us about you.”

Vanel sprung up and said in anger, “And I for one feel I should raise a protest for your unfair treatment of glitches!”

“Hey, we only fight evil glitches! That doesn’t mean all are bad. Like Ally here!” She materialized her ostrich companion. “She was a glitch that we turned good!”

Vanellope glared into the clueless eyes of the ostrich. “Ooo, I want you as my spirit animal, you little strawberry vanilla.” Vanellope huggled the bird half-aggressively.

“Well, I’m glad we got that straightened out.” Quill said. “Now, let’s get back to practice.”

“Practice? You entering a contest?” Dillon asked.

“Apparently, we’re gonna challenge one of the other sectors.” Miko replied. “Which sector was it again?”

“Sector GT.” Jenny answered. “About a week after they joined a few years ago, we volunteered to be the New Sector Welcome Party. That’s where we challenge new recruits and gauge their strength. Now we make it a yearly thing to test how strong they’ve gotten. One of their members, Uzu liked racecars, too, so he and Quill had a race. And Quill got SQUIIIISHED!”

“Yeah, but I’m not gonna let that oaf get the rubber on me again!” Quill stated. “I may be small, but I’ll be doing the squashing this time!”

“You still have a height complex?” Dillon chortled. “Dude, there’s a ton of people who’re tinier than you.”

“No, he and Uzu are actually pretty good friends.” Carmine replied. “Hehe, they love to geek out over how to make remote cars cooler!”

This sparked an idea in Miko. “Speaking of how to make them cooler, I wanted to show you something, Quill!”

“Yeah?”

“Well, when you said we were gonna play with racecars, I brought this!” She reached in her backpack to get a white racecar marked with Hinobi’s “H”, along with a VR helmet.

“Oh, dear. Another Hinobi gizmo?” Eddy asked.

“Don’t worry, it’s really cool! Here, sit on this bench over here and try it on.” Miko led Quill to the nearby bench. As Quill put the helmet on, she flipped a switch in the back and held the car up to her eyes.

Quill’s vision turned pixelly and he strangely found himself sitting in a car, in front of a wheel. “AAAAAH!” he screamed at the pair of looming Asian eyes beyond the windshield, eclipsing his whole vision.

“HAH HAH HA!” Miko burst out a loud laugh as the car shook in her hand. “I did the same thing to my family, it’s priceless every time!”

Quill panicked as he tried to get his bearings. He seemed to be buckled down to the seat as the car was suspended precariously in Miko’s hand. As her looming face moved away, the giant visages of his teammates, Dillon, and Vanellope surrounded him. “WHOA!” He especially freaked at Carmine, whose mask looked like a terrifying sea monster. “What the heck?! I shrunk?!”

“I think it’s a hologram.” Carmine replied, her muffled voice sounding a bit more nightmarish when magnified. “Your real body’s still on the bench.”

Miko carried Quill over to his gigantic real body, moving in conjunction with his miniature self’s confused movements. “…” Quill extended his finger forward, and seeing his own hulking finger approaching to poke himself sent an unusual nervous chill down his spine. “Man, this is so freaky! I tried to stay away from shrink rays as much as possible, but even a simulation just feels…EEESH!”

“I mean, it’s safer than actually shrinking, right?” Miko shrugged. “And it still feels real! That’s why videogames rule!”

“It’s basically a ripoff of _Mario Kart Live_.” Eddy said. “It did the same thing.”

“No, you didn’t get the live view like this.” Dillon corrected.

“Meh.”

“Yes, all your loud banter feels very real, how do I turn this off?” Quill demanded.

“Come on, Quill, you gotta try it at least once.” Miko pled, holding him close to her mopey face. “Heck, I’ll even shrink with you! Let’s have a race!” Miko set him on the ground and pulled out another helmet and car. She put the other car beside Quill’s and sat by him on the bench. As she placed the helmet on, “Zwoop!” a Mini Miko appeared in the car. “I’m ready when you are!”

Quill sighed at how persistent she was. At this level, he was totally dwarfed by his friends’ footwear, and he hated that they were all looking down on him like some neat toy. “Sigh, alright, we’ll try this once.”

“GO!” Miko stomped the gas pedal and whooshed off, swiftly swerving around the giant shoes of the operatives.

“Hey, that didn’t mean I was ready!” Quill hurriedly raced after, the giants scrambling to step aside. He could actually feel the momentum as he zoomed around the plain-sized playground. Quill would sometimes attach cameras to his remote cars to study the live perspective, but driving one this way felt somewhat amazing, but intimidating. He sped to catch up with Miko, the two driving circles around a tetherball court. He screamed as he hastily dodged the thundering sneakers of the titan kids. “Whoa! Heh, this is kind of exciting! You’re mine, Miko!”

“Heh heh!” Vanellope chortled at the benched kids’ motions. “It’s like they’re playing make-believe except they’re not~”

As they left the tether court, Quill caught up to the violet-haired racer, ramming each other’s car from the side. Miko drove away from him and began jigging her car side-to-side, causing her to zoom ahead of Quill. “Ha ha! When I spam quick-drifts, it enhances my engines to maximum speed! Gamer logic!”

“Yeah, well two can play at that-” Quill tried to jig his car the same way, “WAAAAH!” but he lost control and crashed into a misplaced lunchbox.

“OH, YEAH!” Miko punched to either side.

“OW!” Quill felt the impact as Miko’s real body punched his head. His helmet flew off with a spark as Quill seemed to fall unconscious.

“Ouch!” Jenny cringed. “Maybe they shoulda sat further apart.”

The Holo-Quill rubbed his head as his body flickered. “What did she…?” Quill looked over to his distant real body, noticing the helmet was knocked off. “Wait… shouldn’t I be…” He drove back to rejoin the others.

“Hey, I thought we were gonna drive through the basketball court!” Miko yelled, racing after him.

“Miko, what happens if your helmet gets knocked off while you’re still driving?!”

“I mean, you should be back in your real body. You’re supposed to be able to take it off, anyway.”

“Then why am I still in this?!”

“Uhhh…”

The racers returned to the bench as Miko removed her own helmet, finding herself back in her real body. She looked over Quill’s unconscious form with concern, waving a hand by his open, pale eyes. “Uh, Quill? Are you… alright?”

“What the heck is going on?!” yelled the tiny Quill in his car. “Did you kill me?!”

“N-No, I can feel you’re still alive.” Carmine replied.

Eddy picked up the fallen helmet. “I think Miko broke it. Should we… put it back on him?”

“Hey, Quill! Wake up!” Jenny tried slapping the boy and pinching him, but even the tiny Quill couldn’t feel the pain. “W…What’s happened to him?”

“I’m starting to think this is a glitch!” Miko panicked.

“This ain’t the kind of glitch I expected.” Dillon said. “I expected some kind of… sentient creature to come out or something?”

“What, I’m some kind of sentient creature to you?” Vanellope inquired.

“Um…yes?”

“Well, let’s take him to Phil.” Miko suggested, lifting Quill’s body. “He’ll know what to do. Come on!” Carmine picked up Quill’s car and carried him with.

**Hinobi Stop**

“Sooo… you were playing with the Hinobi Kart Mini,” Phil recapped, “and when you knocked his helmet off, he just got stuck in there?”

“Yes, that is a perfect summarization of what just happened!” Quill shouted. “Can you fix me or what?! Can’t one of you just shine your derez thingy on the helmet or something?”

“I think I know the problem here.” The manager said. “It’s a Switch Glitch.”

“A Switch Glitch?” Miko repeated.

“It happens with VR setups sometimes, where the player takes the helmet off, but they’re still stuck in the avatar’s body because it can’t tell that they logged out. As a side-effect, the real body goes numb like that. It’s actually a pretty rare occurrence, so tough luck to you, kid.”

“What is that supposed to mean, am I stuck like this?!”

“Relax, I’m sure they got an answer for this.” Phil typed on his desk computer. “Aha…it says we need a Memory Drive. Only problem is, we don’t have those in our shipments because we never got VR sets, yet. I guess they didn’t account for our little resident Kubota.”

Vanellope glitched onto the desk and asked, “What if we just stomp the car and break it, would he jolt back awake?”

“A GLITCH!” Phil tried to shoot her, but Vanellope began zipping around the store in evasion.

“NONONONO!” Miko jumped in the way. “She’s not a Hinobi glitch! She’s someone else, she’s friendly!”

“Yeah, we’ll see how friendly I am when I get serious!” Vanel declared.

“Uh…okay??” Phil lowered his guard with a quizzical expression. “But no, destroying the car’s a big no-no. It says there was an account of that happening and the guy was in a coma for a couple months.”

“How hasn’t this shady-ass company been sued, yet?” Eddy asked.

“Yeah, this is some pretty messed-up shit.” Dillon agreed.

“Look, I didn’t make the rules, kids. I’m just an ordinary store manager doin’ his duty. (Or so I think…)” he mumbled under his breath.

“Haha, you don’t think you did your doody?!” Vanellope warped on the desk and laughed.

“Get off that, kid!” Phil scared her off. “Anyway, if I send a call to corporate about this, they’re probably gonna send someone to fix the problem. And I don’t know how they’ll feel about… y’know, the ‘letting you keep memories’ business.”

“Ew, that’s gonna pose a problem.” Jenny said.

“Ooo, I know!” Miko perked up. “Try and get in contact with Five! See if you can get him to ask for a Memory Drive without saying the specifics! He can fly to Earth, and I can introduce him to my new friends!”

“That’s… gonna be pretty complicated.”

“Pleeeeaaaase, Phil?” Miko folded her hands with puppy-dog eyes.

Her response was a very long sigh of coffee-scented breath. “I’ll see what I can do, kid.”

“You’re the best, Phil!” Miko reached over the desk for a loving hug, her beaming smile in contrast with Phil’s gloomy frown.

“Right… now, protocol says we should keep the Switch Glitch victims in custody until help arrives, but I imagine you’d rather be with your pals.”

“Ditto.” Quill acknowledged.

“Alright, then you should probably go before anyone else sees. I’ll try to phone Five.”

The operatives exited the store as requested, crossing the parking lot leisurely. “I’m so sorry, Quill.” Miko said. “I never heard of this happening before, I didn’t know you’d be trapped in a tiny toy car. Are you mad?”

“Yeah, I am kind of livid, thanks.”

“Don’t worry, Quill.” Carmine said. “This sort of thing happens to every sector. But we promise to take good care of you!” She patted the car gently.

“I guess we’ll have to cancel our plans with Sector GT now.” Drake figured. “Since Hinobi values their ‘secrets.’”

“Pfft, I say you guys should go, anyway.” Dillon inferred. “Tell them what happened and everything.”

“Yeah!” Quill agreed. “No way I should miss our hangout over this!”

“It’s fine by me.” Eddy said. “Though I can’t imagine Quill should race in this condition.”

“Well, if you guys say so, the playdate is still on!” Drake decided. “Fine with you, Miko?”

“Sure! I’d love to see what other Earth sectors are like!”

“Do you two wanna come?” Jenny asked Dillon and Vanel.

“We think we’ll hang around here a little bit.” Dillon answered. “We kinda wanna… check the games out. But we hope things go all right with you, Quill.”

“Yeah, I’ll hang in there.”

“It does feel kind of awkward meeting Sector GT in this state.” Carmine said. “Are you sure you won’t be scared, Quill?”

“Come on, GT may be huge, but they ain’t scary.”

“What, are they like football players?” Miko asked. “Or are they like college students?”

“Oh, yeah!” Jenny laughed. “I guess we didn’t really mention that part.”

**Guatemala**

Sector Q flew all the way out to Central America, soaring over the partly-clouded skies of Quetzaltenango, a name that Miko wasn’t bound to remember any time soon. They closed in on the farming highlands, a lush and green collection of hills close to a forest. However, far from the village was the unmistakable shape of a KND treehouse, the colossal structure easily viewable from the town, designed to be this region’s symbol of hope.

However, as their Q-Ship drew closer, Miko realized something: Sector GT’s treehouse seemed a bit larger than Q’s, built with rather thick wood. “I heard their treehouse is built with wood imported from Amazonia.” Jenny mentioned. “It’s the best way to support those lugs.”

They landed inside an immensely large hangar, next to an oversized rocket-like ship. Miko was almost beginning to think that they all shrunk as well, crossing the vast hangar floor to a rather gaping doorway. “’EEEYOOOOO!” Drake’s call echoed throughout the living room. There were six kids going about their own activities, and fitting with the décor, the GT operatives were the right scale to match it, some measuring up to at least 20 feet. “Where’s the welcome party?!”

“Hey, Sector Q is here!” Ally cheered, looking up from sweeping the floor.

“Ah, I thought it was about time!” Sind said, picking up his soccerball. The floor shook violently as the six giants jogged over. Quill almost paled as the towering titans approached at the speed that they did. Though he was used to being around the Giant Sector, their sizes were more than intimidating from this angle.

“WHOOOOOAAA!” Miko’s mouth had to grow to fully capture her surprise. “What do you guys EAT?! You’re really packing it!”

“This girl’s our new teammate, Miko!” Drake announced. “Miko, meet the Giants of Guatemala!”

The leader, Sind Diego was a blonde, Mexican boy with a red soccer jersey, black shorts, and red sneakers. The farmer, Doran Dodley was an orange-skinned boy with dim green hair, wearing bright orange shorts, shirt, and shoes. The housekeeper, Ally Mitchels had bowl-cut brown hair, a white dress with red polka-dots, and light-blue sandals. The smasher, Konbu Colins, the largest and huskiest giant, wore a green shirt and blue shorts, his black hair short on his pudgy head. His brother, Uzu had puffy brown hair, a yellow shirt with a waffle picture, blue jeans, and white shoes. Biyo Winston, despite his bulbous head, was the shortest giant at 14 feet, with a small bush of gray hair atop his scalp, a blue dress with black shorts, and white shoes. Shy and meek-looking, he served as the team’s doctor.

“You guys are WAY too huge!” Miko expressed, going directly up to the giants and craning her neck back. “I bet you’re like the strongest sector!”

“Not even close.” Ally smiled sheepishly. “Most of us are only around 100 with Power Levels.”

“How come this guy is wearing a dress?” Miko asked as she walked under Biyo. “Are you a boy or a girl?”

“I-I’m a boy!” Biyo flushed, backing up. “I just really like Numbuh 5, okay?”

“Numbuh High Five? You know him?!”

“No, Miko, he’s talking about Numbuh 5 from the previous gen.” Jenny corrected. “But yeah, Biyo is sort of a crossdresser.”

“And this guy is so orange!” Miko walked up and climbed around Doran. “Are you a carrot monster?”

“I had a serious addiction to carrots since I was little.” Doran replied with a blush. “When the Gigantification happened, my body turned this color as a result. Okay, my turn! Why is your hair like that?”

“No idea! I was just born with this color, even though no one in my family has it.”

“So, where’s Quill?” Uzu asked. “Did he not come today?”

“Actually, Quill got into a little accident.” Carmine walked up and held up the Hinobi car. “He’s right here.”

Uzu crouched down as his squinted eyes focused on the tiny car. “Oh…did Quill shrink?”

“He shrunk?” Sind asked worriedly. “Um…should we get him fixed at Moonbase?”

“It’s a little more complicated than that.” Drake answered.

“Yeah, Miko brought some cursed technology back from her alien planet.” Eddy explained.

“Cursed technology?!” Biyo screamed.

Sector Q briefly went over the incident that happened, though they left out the bigger details regarding Hinobi’s glitches and mind-wiping. “So, he’s gonna be stuck that way for a while?” Sind summarized. “Well, we wouldn’t have minded cancelling.”

“Maybe he should eat something?” Konbu suggested. “I’ll let him have one of my donuts!”

“Nice idea, but I don’t think holograms can eat.” Ally replied.

“Come on, we can still hang out!” Quill decided. “If I’m gonna be stuck in this car all day, no reason we can’t do it here!”

“Yeah, Sind!” Uzu agreed. “We’ll just have to be extra careful! That’s what we do best, right?”

“I guess so…” Sind rubbed his arm nervously.

“Great, then SHOW ME WHAT YOU GIANTS CAN DO!” Miko leapt and PUNCHED Biyo in the gut, the force blasting the mini giant across the room as a chair shattered!

“Oooooww!”

“We should probably head outside first.” Doran figured.

**Hinobi Stop**

Phil had sent an email to his old store, asking for a Memory Drive. Other customers were studying the shelves, such as a girl with braces and glasses, an African-American boy with a rocket hat, or a strange, black-clothed man with cowboy boots, who was checking out a parasite horror game. However, Phil’s eyes fell to Dillon, the boy’s eyes narrowed on the _Chomp Kitty_ game in his hands. “You gonna buy something or what, kid?”

“Hey, I’m very selective with my games.” Dillon remarked.

“Is there another reason you’re still hanging around here?”

“Someone’s gotta make sure you’re doing your job.”

“Oh, I’m doing my job, are you doing yours?”

“Yep, saving the universe, one bad game at a time. So, which of these have the riskiest glitch potential?”

“Ex-nay on the itches-glay, kid.” Phil said as a firefly fluttered around him. “Ugh, would you go away?!” He tried to shoo the glowing bug away. “What’re you doing here in the daytime…”

Meanwhile, as BITT was patrolling around the back area, the robot noticed the security network seemed to be glitchy. The camera behind him flashed as Vanellope zipped out. “Boo!” And she glitched directly into BITT’s face. _“Shhh-shhh-shhhhhhh!”_ Vanellope’s form was shown on BITT’s face, depicted as though she were behind him and putting a hand over his mouth. _“It’s okay, buddy, I’m not a bad glitch. I just wanna hack around a bit.”_

_“Unauthorized personnel are not permitted on my hard-drive!”_

_“Yeah yeah, I’ll make it up to you later. Just lemme poke around just a little bit.”_

The inside of BITT’s cyberspace resembled a sea of blocks resembling countless files. “Whoa…” Vanellope’s eyes fell wide before a rather huge and tightly secured file. There were large keys around the bottom of the file. “What’s inside this big thing?”

_“This is Phil’s highly personal file, sealed with a code that not even he can crack!”_

“Meh, I’ve cracked a few codes in my time. Let’s start with…” Vanellope pressed one of the buttons, resulting in a jovial _Boooop_ sound. “Ha ha ha!” She pushed another, _Bip!_ “Haha!” Then another, _Boop_. “Hmmm…”

 _Bip bip bibibibi boop, bip bip bibibibi boop, bibi boop boop, BOOP doo-doo-doo doo, boop!_ Vanellope began pressing them in a rhythm that resembled the chicken dance. She had quickly forgotten trying to decrypt the code just to enjoy herself. BITT seemed to be enjoying it, too, dancing and singing along with her.

…

Dillon’s shadow slithered behind the desk and whispered to Phil’s shadow. The adult’s shadow seemed to speak back, and afterwards, Mario returned to Dillon to pass on the info. Dillon cracked a smile and spoke smoothly. “But be straight with me, Phil. You ain’t a bad guy. If you were, you would’ve wiped our memories already, right?”

“My generosity has its limits, kid. If too many of you know about the glitch problems, we’ll all get in trouble with corporate.”

“Buddy, we faced a universe-destroying time god, I think we can handle a few sleazy game-developers. But if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had something against them, too.”

“Well, it’s none of your business, anyway.” Phil replied as he again had to shoo away the firefly.

“No, it kind of is.” Dillon argued as the firefly flew over to the dark-clothed man, who proceeded to leave the store. “You Hinobi guys landed on our planet and are threatening us with your broken games. My friends wouldn’t appreciate another crisis so soon, so we’d like to stop one before it happens.”

Phil sighed. “Alright… I’m not gonna pretend to understand Hinobi’s policy or their programming. Most of the time, I don’t question it because I need my paycheck. But between you and me, I think they’re hiding something from me, and when I find out-”

_Beeee doop, bee-deeee, doop, bee-dooooooo…_

“What the-?” Hearing the strange, yet familiar singing, Phil turned to the back door. “BITT?” The manager rushed over and barged in to find his robot dancing in the air, his face glitching. “BITT, what’s wrong?!” Phil grabbed a gauntlet and flashed the Derez Light.

“YIPE!” Vanel immediately jumped out and glitched away.

“YOU!” Phil charged after her, and Dillon bolted out of the store alongside his sister. “YOU ROTTEN KIDS, you better not come back!” The other customers looked his direction with shock.

“You find anything, Vanel?!” Dillon asked.

“I tried, but we started playing chicken!”

“Ugh…” Phil huffed and returned to the back. “Great, what did they do to you, BITT?” He tapped the robot’s face to stop its jittering. “They better not’ve broken any…thing?”

An unfamiliar file labeled _Bio Program Project_ appeared on the screen. “What in the… Where did this…”

 _“Congratulations, Ph— &*%*—il! You cracked the code!”_ BITT glitched.

“I…I did? YES! I knew I wasn’t clever enough to fool me! Hmmm…let’s store this somewhere else for now. I’ll have a look at it later.”

**Sector GT**

“HYAH!!” Jenny zoomed at Sind for another charged kick, unable to bend the giant soccer star’s leg. The soles of Sind’s shoes glowed a cyan color as his soccerball magnetically returned. Jenny dodged the boulder-sized ball, but Sind dealt a kick that blasted the soccer like a cannonball, flinging Jenny across the court. “Your kicks are nothing compared to Karin’s!” Sind declared.

Jenny switched rockets on the ankles of her shoes and shoved the ball back over with sheer momentum. The increased speed knocked Sind down with his own ball, then Jenny performed a high rocket-powered flip and stomped down on Sind’s back. “At least I get to save strength by not running!”

Doran led Drake out to his farmland, where giant produce was grown and harvested. Using his plantbending, Corn Missiles launched off their stems and homed in on Drake, the leader evading as they exploded. But Drake was tripped as Doran bent some roots up from beneath him. Doran dropped Cabbage Bombs beside him, Drake enduring the explosions as they coated him in juices. Drake pushed himself up and used his sword-hand to chop the crops down. He ran toward Doran and shot his harpoon to latch around his leg, and as he reeled himself toward the giant, he flipped and imbued Haki to his boots. The impact to his stomach sent Doran several yards, landing on his back. Doran bent up gun-like plants to shoot grape and pea bullets. Drake changed his hand to a retractable shield and ran to engage him again.

Konbu stood face-to-face with Miko Kubota, the gamer smirking with confidence even as the boy completely dwarfed her. To Miko’s surprise, Konbu curled his arms and legs up and seemed to retract his head into his body. The giant rolled at Miko and squished her like a 2D rug on the floor. Regardless, she reflated in good condition (gamer logic) and braced herself as Konbu rebounded. She pushed against the rounded mass, stopping Konbu in place. She struggled to push against the hefty boy, but was able to redirect him to her left. Konbu uncurled, and when Miko ran to him, Konbu bent down and dealt palm thrusts. Miko dealt thrusts of her own to negate his, then charged to shove him off his legs.

“Not bad!” Konbu praised. “You study Sumo Style?”

“I play sumo games!” Miko leapt to punch down against his face. Konbu coughed from the attack, then retracted his head to roll away once more.

“Yeah, but I can do it like Gorons do!” Konbu said as he emerged, squatting down. “I bet you’re not heavy enough for this!” And before Miko’s eyes, he lunged into the air, at least 12 meters! Miko wouldn’t have expected a giant of such girth and small legs to accomplish this, but she would definitely be more than flattened if she didn’t run out of the way. When Konbu crashed, the earth rumbled violently from his shockwave and knocked Miko off her feet. Konbu leapt once more and smashed the gamer beneath his belly.

“Hurrrrrah!” Miko extracted her purple hammer to force Konbu off and into the air. She expected another dramatic quake upon his landing and jumped at the same time, but she barely felt a vibration. “Hey, why didn’t you shockwave that time?”

“I wasn’t able to muster my chi in time.” Konbu replied, rolling at Miko again. She shoved against and tried to haul him aside once more. “I can concentrate my weight to specific areas and add more force!” With some added pressure to his belly, Konbu rolled over Miko. He then got up to jump and smash her again, belly bouncing against the girl to keep her down.

“HURK! Okay… uncle… can’t breathe!…”

“Hee hee hee!” Ally giggled, watching the battle with Carmine in her hands. “Come on, Miko, we’ve seen a ton of operatives lift Konbu up!”

“I guess videogames can only make you so strong.” Carmine shrugged.

“Hey, why aren’t you guys fighting?” Drake asked, trying to escape another of Doran’s vine traps.

“Why fight when we can play?” Ally asked, swaying Carmine in the air. “Life’s way more than just training!”

“You don’t want me to blow up your Broom Vacuum again, right?” Carmine asked.

“Well, that’s one reason.” Ally blushed.

Elsewhere, Uzu was driving an RC car, the size of a normal car, around a track and shooting targets with a turret. “Check it out!” he said to the little Quill on his shoulder. “I installed the boat function we talked about!” He drove the car into a moat as a raft inflated around it.

“Hah, I added that to mine, too!” Quill replied. “Too bad I won’t get to show you…”

“You can drive that thing around, right? We can still have a race.”

“I don’t wanna risk getting flattened. If this thing breaks, I could be out for months.”

“I guess you’re pretty confident I’d win, huh?”

“Yeah. I MEAN, NO, I NEVER SAID THAT!”

“Ha ha ha!”

“Yeah, ha ha, I don’t appreciate the mocking.”

“Okay, I’m sorry.” Uzu said with mild guilt. Feeling he should change the subject, Uzu asked, “So, how’s Miko like, anyway? She seems pretty fun.”

“Well, she certainly brought a ton of messes with her.” Quill replied. “Honestly… I’m not sure, anymore. I feel like our workload just increased tenfold with all this Hinobi business.”

“How come?”

“Let’s just say that Hinobi has a lot of problems, with this being an example. Because Miko works for Hinobi, she has to fix those problems, and that means we, her new teammates, have to help fix them. Though, I guess we would’ve had to either way, but still… I wonder if we wouldn’t have to deal with them if she hadn’t joined our sector. …Well, don’t tell her I said that.”

“No, I kind of understand.” Uzu replied. “Actually… I kind of relate to her. We all had a hard time adapting back to normal life because of our sizes. That’s sort of why we all moved to this town, because there’s plenty of land for us. Even the town started working to accommodate us… well, after we stomped a few villains, of course. But I guess Miko’s case is different, huh?”

“Yeah, it kind of is. I don’t even know if it’s her fault; even if they’re accidents or if she apologizes…”

“Hoo! That was quite a workout!” Miko cheered, flexing her arms as she and Konbu approached the two. “So, where’s the picnic you all were telling me about?”

“Hah, we’ll get it set right up!” Uzu smiled, standing up to full height.

Once all the pairs were finished with their bouts, Doran and Ally laid a large blanket down. The giants shared their favorite foods with the normal-size operatives, with Drake eating Doran’s carrot bread, Miko biting part of a large donut, while Carmine sipped part of Ally’s warm water through a straw. Biyo was holding Quill’s unmoving body in a basket with a pillow and blanket. “Biyo says that Quill’s vital signs seem okay.” Eddy explained.

“That’s good!” Miko smiled. “See, everything’s gonna be okay, Qui-”

“Yeah, I’m not gonna hold money on it though.” The car-bound boy cut her off.

“Um…but when you are, want me to get you anything? Mocha slushy?”

“I’m not really in the mood for anything.”

“Um…” Miko’s face fell with guilt. They both knew it was her fault and she was unsure what to say. “Do you want me to do anything?”

“Besides protecting my body or making sure Hinobi does their job, I’m really not sure.”

“I…I really am sorry.”

“I’m feeling a little uncomfortable about this.” Sind mentioned. “Maybe we should’ve just cancelled.”

“No, maybe I should just leave.” Miko stood and began to walk away. “I’ll go wait on the ship or something.”

“Come on, don’t leave, yet.” Jenny skated up and held her arm. “At least you’re trying… That matters.”

“I feel like it doesn’t matter enough.”

“Look, everybody makes mistakes they aren’t proud of.” Drake inputted. “Quill doesn’t have to forgive her, but we already agreed to keep this hangout going despite Quill’s condition. So, I think the whole team should be here.”

“Hmmm…” Miko awkwardly returned to her spot. “Well… I promise not to make you guys play any more Hinobi games. I’ll keep them to myself.”

“I don’t really think anyone should play Hinobi, anymore.” Eddy said.

“It doesn’t sound like their inventions are very safe.” Ally figured.

“Yeah, and you don’t know the worst parts.”

Miko let out a little whimper. She had always felt loyal to Hinobi growing up… and even after she learned about the glitches and mind-wiping, she still felt that they had everyone’s best interests at heart. Her old friends never felt like this… but if not for the mind-wiping, would everyone else feel like this?

“He…he’s moving!”

Hearing Biyo speak up, everyone looked to Quill’s body in his hands. Indeed, Quill seemed to be squirming to wake up. “Is he going back to his body?” Carmine asked hopefully.

“I don’t feel anything happening on my end.” The Quill in the car said. “Did Phil mention anything like this?”

“I don’t think so…” Miko replied.

“Nnn…YAH!!” Quill’s body jolted up, whipping out his Elementors as he blasted fire into Biyo’s face, the shortest giant screaming and keeling backwards as he tried to put it out. “AAAAAGH!” He set fire to the whole picnic, the operatives jumping away. “Ooo, it feels so good to be in the flesh! Now, where is that little…” His corrupted white eyes locked on the tiny car in Carmine’s hands. “THERE it is!” He quickly shot wind from the guns to blow Carmine over, dropping the car as it bounced away. The possessed Quill dashed for the car, but Ally jumped in the way, whipping out a broom and blowing a gust of wind from the brush. ‘Quill’ couldn’t withstand the wind and was blown back, then Drake jumped the boy in attempt to tie him up.

‘Quill’ switched to wind to blow him off, then shot ice to freeze Drake—Konbu leapt to flatten the possessed boy, followed by Sind jumping on his friend’s back to apply extra pressure. Konbu rolled off afterward, revealing ‘Quill’ to be battered and exhausted. Doran bent up some vines to tightly bind the boy, Carmine coming to confiscate his weapons.

With a stern expression, Miko marched up to the possessed boy. “You’re a glitch, aren’t you?”

“Not anymore! Now I’m finally free! Now, let me go!”

“Why did you try to hurt Quill?”

“So I couldn’t be sent back to that puny prison! I can’t even move around on my own unless someone pilots me! But even then, I have to act under their controls! You knocked a little sense in to me when you punched my helmet. It took some time, but I finally have a will of my own! Now, let me go!”

“Hell no!” Jenny yelled. “We ain’t gonna let you smash our friend!”

“I just don’t understand…” Miko spoke in a low tone.

“Understand what?” the glitch asked.

“Why do you glitches hurt people? Why do you hurt the people who enjoy your games? Do you all just feel like prisoners? Why?”

“I can’t really speak for other games, but I don’t like being trapped in a tiny car. Better this guy than me!”

“Give back my body, you jerk!” Quill yelled from Carmine’s hands.

“Alright… this needs to stop.” Miko turned and faced her friends with eyes of resolve. “I…I’m ashamed that my favorite company is doing this to you all. Hinobi… needs to answer for this.”

“Whoa…” Quill had never heard Miko sound this serious. It was subtle and reserved, but the little operative could feel the severity in his teammate’s voice. She actually sounded… pretty dependable.

Sind curved his eyes in a serious, agreeing fashion. “Yeah… You want us to help you guys?”

“We’d really appreciate it.” Eddy nodded. “But what’s even our first course of action?”

“Getting Biyo treated, for one.” Ally said, helping the burnt-faced boy to stand.

“It’s okay. I have something for this.” Biyo reached into his med-kit to retrieve some medicine.

“We still need to wait for that Memory Drive to help Quill.” Drake said. “Until then… I say we go bring this up with Cheren. Maddy might’ve already told him, but I say we get him to send word out to other sectors. We’ll be ready in case Hinobi tries something.”

“Yeah… that’s a good idea.” Miko nodded.

“Can I get one of those donuts?!” The Switch Glitch shouted.

**Hinobi Stop; that twilight**

“Sigh…” Phil couldn’t believe what he had just read. Why was Hinobi… trying to do something like that? Why would they want to? And more importantly…

He couldn’t finish his thought as a group of people walked into his store. It seems they’ve finally arrived. “Long time, no see, guys. Did you bring the Drive?”

“Right here, former boss.” Mitch smiled and twirled the cord in his hand. “So, where is the little newb?”

**I have to wonder if _Glitch Techs_ would do something like this, where they discuss the morality or ramifications of mind-wiping and how people would really feel about their glitches. It seems like a conflict they really should bring up.**


	6. I Wanted to Show my Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sector Q has a sudden and unexpected encounter with an elite Hinobi official.

**After this story, beware of additions to _Pirate Wars_!**

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Chapter 6: I Wanted to Show my Friends

_**

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_The Bio Program Project. By implanting Programs into mortal bodies, it will enable them to adapt to the real world without need of a computer source. With this means, perhaps we will be able to help the Core enter reality. However, implanting the Core in its entirety will destroy the host with its overwhelming chi. For that reason, only a small fraction of the Core’s chi was taken._

_We’ve selected a candidate for the study, a married woman, but to avoid questions or interference, she will remain unaware of the truth. When she comes for a medical exam, we will implant the codes inside her in secret. She will undergo pregnancy and simply believe it to be hers and her husband’s doing. The “code” will be born as a human, but because their chi comes from the Core, there will likely be a surplus in Hinobi Glitches. In time, however, the Core may be able to enter reality, so long as the subject adapts. Until then, we will study them from afar._

“A Bio Program… designed to be born and raised as a human?” Phil mumbled to himself. “I’ve never seen the Hinobi Core… but what’s this talk about bringing it to reality? Why? Plus… who is this ‘subject,’ anyway? Would I… know them?”

He looked up when the door ringed. The store was otherwise clear of customers during this twilight hour… but Phil gasped, recognizing the woman entering. “Inspector Seven!”

“Please, Phil!” the pudgy woman chortled jovially. “Call me Barbara.”

“Heh, Barbara…” Phil smiled anxiously, expecting nothing shy of a bad outcome under these circumstances. “What brings you out to this little galaxy?” he asked, quickly and subtly closing the document he was looking at.

“Why, for a special inspection, of course. I’ve come as a personal escort to a very special guest. Oh, the coast is clear, sir! There are no other customers!”

“I’ve already sensed.” A thin man walked in. He had a white suit and coat, black pants, metallic eyes, and gray hair. “Still, you can’t be too careful. Not all things share their aura freely.”

“Puh…” Phil couldn’t help but gawk. “President… Kayaba. A-Are you… Sir…”

“Good evening, Mr. Altiere. I wanted to personally see how our shops were fairing on this… special little planet. There haven’t been any problems, have there?”

“Uh, no, no, no problems.” Phil glanced about nervously.

“But Phil, we’ve heard that a team of Hinobi agents were sent here with a Memory Drive.” Barbara said.

“Okay, there’s been a few glitches, but everything’s being taken care of. You have nothing to worry about!” He sported a grin, but deep down, he knew he was doing a bad job at hiding it.

“Yes, well… we’ll hear a full report from the agents, once they return.”

“Eh heh heh…oh boy.”

**Sector Q**

“Voom, voom…voom, voom…” Jenny was crouched down and rolling around the living room, Quill’s car in hand as she rolled it with her. “Uh-oh! The Sitting Nerd is blocking the highway!” She stopped the car at Edward’s blue shoes. “Once he’s on his computer, he’s unmovable!”

“I’m glad she didn’t put that helmet on me.” Eddy said. “That just looks so humiliating, Quill.”

“Just lift your feet.” Quill demanded. Eddy did so, allowing Jenny to keep vrooming.

Drake and Carmine were watching over the unconscious Quill’s real body, tied to a chair. “Now that we told Cheren to pass on the info… you think they’ll still help Quill?” Carmine asked.

“They shouldn’t really find out until after they fix Quill. But even then, I hope we didn’t just sign up for a war with Hinobi.”

“Me, too…”

“Guys!” They turned to Miko as she jogged in from the hangar. “I saw a Hinobi Truck coming! I think Five is here!”

“Is it just Five?” Drake inquired.

“I don’t know…” Miko’s face fell with the consideration. “But we’d better go greet them, anyway.”

A smallish truck designed with Hinobi’s tech and colors was flying into the hangar. Miko beamed, recognizing a familiar face behind the windshield. That same face seemed to shine upon seeing her. “FIVE!”

“Miko!” Her old friend jumped out of the truck and ran to embrace her in a hug.

“I knew you would bring the Memory Drive! It wasn’t too hard, was it?”

“Uh, actually…”

“Oh, Miko, Miko, Miko.” None other than Mitch Williams marched out of the truck. “Not even a week and you’re crying to us for help.”

“M…Mitch?” Miko released the hug.

“Yeah, I couldn’t really get the Memory Drive without getting the team involved.” Five admitted.

“Hey, Miko!” called a Muslim girl with a hijab and Hinobi armor. “Are these your new teammates?”

“Are these guys gamers, too?” asked a husky, African-American boy. “I wonder how they rank?”

“Have they checked out any of our games?” asked a thin boy with red, curly hair. They were all wearing Hinobi armor.

“Wow, I didn’t expect the whole gang to be here!” Miko smiled. “Guys, this is Sector Q! Drake, Quill, Eddy, Carmine, and Jenny. Sector Q, that’s High Five, Bergy,” the curly-haired boy, “Zahra,” the Muslim girl, “Haneesh,” the African boy, “and…”

“That’s right! Mitch Williams, the one and only~” The blonde, dark-skinned boy boasted. “Aren’t you newbs lucky to be alive today?”

“Uh, we’re not newbs.” Drake inferred. “We’ve been around for years. Been on lots of missions, suffered some wounds.”

“Yes, well experience speaks louder than words,” Mitch passively surveyed the team, “and I—GOOD GAME GRUMPS, what is that?!” he panicked at seeing Carmine. “You better not have a disease!”

“No, I lost my skin in an accident. I have to wear this or else everything really hurts. Anyway, could you please fix our friend?” She gestured to Quill’s car in Jenny’s hands.

Mitch cocked a brow at the tiny boy in the car, then at the same boy tied to a chair. “Hah. I knew I was right not to trust that thing. Mini karts are for newbs.”

“I could beat you at racecars any day!” Quill shouted.

“Aww, and he tawks, too!” Mitch cooed. “How cute~”

Drake marched up to envelop Mitch’s vision. “You gonna fix him or not?”

“Fine, fine.” Mitch withdrew a cord. “All we have to do is insert this end in the car,” he tapped the square end, “and this end in the real body’s ear.” He tapped the plug end.

“This is gonna feel weird.” Quill said.

“Well, I doubt you want to stay mini, so let’s get this over with.” Mitch plugged one end into the car and the other into Quill’s ear. Energy began transferring through the car as Quill’s holo-body began disappearing. The body was shaking as other energy transferred into the car as well.

“Nnnnnn…yah!” Quill’s eyes shot open.

“Quill? Are you back?” Carmine asked.

“I…I think I am!”

“Wait, it could still be the glitch!” Jenny accused. “We gotta test it! Quill, when the Big Mom Pirates invaded Cleveland 3 years ago, which officer did you fight?”

“His name was Cracker. He had the power to conjure these biscuit soldiers. I actually worked with Kodama to beat him!”

“Okay, but which crewmen did WE fight?”

“I don’t remember their names! I think Drake fought a firebending dude with long sleeves, Eddy fought some pumpkin-headed dude, Carmine fought a ladybug girl that was mocking her appearance, and Jenny… you fought some guy that looked like Elvis Presley?”

“Yeah, he sorta did!” Jenny laughed.

“Glad to have you back, buddy!” Drake untied him.

“No payment necessary, just praise is fine.” Mitch boasted. “Now comes this part.” And he readied to flash the memory-wipe-

The friends looked away as Miko jumped to block him, her eyes strict. The _ERROR_ message flashed on Mitch’s gauntlet. “Mitch, we need to talk.”

“What are you doing, Miko? You know that other operatives can’t-”

“Well, here’s a news flash for you, buddy.” Drake stepped up. “You’re on Earth turf now. We play a different kind of game, and it’s called, ‘No Memory-Wiping.’“

“What the… Miko, you haven’t been wiping them?!”

“Mitch, the mind-wiping needs to stop. These glitches are hurting Hinobi’s customers and they need to know.”

“That’s not for you to decide, Miko! Do you know how much trouble you could be in?”

“Ain’t you the one that transferred Miko?” Drake inquired. “You wanted to get rid of her, so she shouldn’t have to play by your rules, anymore.”

“The reason I did so in the first place was because she was trouble. You can’t tell me you haven’t had any problems with her.”

“Not as many as we’re having with you, newbie.”

“Uck! Newbie?! Well, get this through your thick skull.” Mitch jabbed the slightly shorter boy in the chest. “I’m an elite gamer that’s battled with the greatest! I traded bullets with Sinon, the FPS Master. I traded fists with the Gamer Queen, Gaz Membrane. Even two of the Pirate Emperors, Kroctus and Mandy, were no match for me in _Mario Kart_! Because I,” jab, “am MITCH,” jab, “WILLIAMS-”

 _BAM!_ Drake’s fist flew like a cannon, smashing Mitch’s face into a crater. The boy flew back, headfirst against the truck as his teammates looked on in worry. “My NOOOOOOOSE!” He sprung up and screamed in a high pitch. “You broke my noooose! You bully!”

“Miko ain’t a problem. Hinobi’s the problem. And we’re not having it, anymore.” Drake vowed. “It was their choice to set up business on this world, but if we have to clean up their messes, we ain’t letting people forget them.”

“Yeah.” Miko said. “People can’t enjoy Hinobi games without knowing about the glitches. If Hinobi wants a good relationship with its customers, they should let their customers know and decide for themselves. Don’t you think, Five?”

“Um…it’s not that I don’t agree, but… I was kinda hoping to visit, not start a rebellion.” Five chuckled nervously. “Mitch, why don’t we just let them go and-”

“No!” Mitch raised his gauntlet. “Teammates, arrest Miko and wipe their memories!”

“A-Arrest?” Zahra asked.

“You know mind-wiping doesn’t work on her. We have to arrest and report her!”

“Er…” Zahra and the others hesitantly raised their gloves, except for Five. The Q operatives assumed battle poses, with Miko folding her arms in confidence. Five could only look between both groups in fear.

The floor seemed to bounce and quake under some heavy footsteps. “HEY, guys!” Sind Diego stomped into the hangar, followed by his teammates. “We heard some yelling! You guys aren’t fighting, are you?” the leader asked, smirking down at Mitch’s group.

“Hu-hu-hu-hu-hu-hu…” Mitch nearly wet his pants before the giants, the six stopping directly behind Sector Q and staring down the Hinobi agents with total intimidation. “W-W-What are… these behemoths?!”

“Aw, yeah!” Miko cheered. “You didn’t expect me to be friends with the strongest sector in the KND, did ya?! These giants were bred and raised in a lab, designed to squash all resistance!”

“We don’t like to talk about the ‘lab’ part…” Sind said.

“Yeah, that’s right! It’s scary stuff! You don’t mess with Sector GT, or they’ll go, DHOMP, DHOMP, DHOMP, DHOMP!” Miko stomped her feet and hunched over like a monster.

“Sector GT?” Bergy asked. “Like… Glitch Techs?”

“Glitch Techs?” Uzu asked.

“Oh, that’s their other name.” Miko replied. “Wait… Sector GT, Glitch Techs… hah, that’s kinda funny!”

“Wait, I know that guy!” Konbu pointed. “It’s Mitch Williams!”

“WAAAAH!” Mitch cried as the giant bent down and snatched him off the floor.

“I watch your Let’s Play videos! You’re so cool!” Konbu said as he swung him about like a doll.

“LET GO! Let go of me, you oversized newb!” Mitch shook desperately until Konbu finally released him. “What the-?! I’m covered in donut goop! Disgusting!”

“We’ve made our point, Mitch.” Miko said. “We appreciate you helping Quill… so, you can go now.”

“Grr!” Mitch grit his teeth, staring Miko in the eyes. “…Hmph.” With that, the leader returned to the truck. “Guys, let’s go. This treehouse is too retro for my tastes.”

The others shared concerned glances and boarded the truck. Five first turned to Miko. “Miko, I…I think what you’re doing is cool, but… I don’t think I could join you. You know my dad went to prison for hacking one of their games, right? I would just make more trouble for him if I…”

“I guess…” Miko rubbed her arm nervously. “Well, do you think you could still visit later?” She cracked a weak smile. “When Mitch isn’t around? I promise they don’t break everyone’s noses.”

“I’d like to, but…”

“Hurry up, Five!” Mitch honked the horn.

“Uh…I’ll see you later, Meeks.” Five regrettably boarded the truck, his friend bowing her head somberly. The 12 operatives watched as the truck took off from the hangar, flying into the fading twilight.

Miko looked over as little Quill held her left hand. “If the moment hasn’t passed… I’ll take that slushy now.”

Miko giggled. “I’ll be sure to get it in the morning.”

“Do you want us to stick around in case they come back?” Ally asked.

“You can head home if you want.” Drake answered. “Even if they do, we’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, we do take up a lot of room here.” Doran figured.

“Hey, Ally, before you go, I just remembered something!” Miko said as she materialized her ostrich. “This is my pet, Ally! You have the same name!”

“Oh, wow! Haha, that’s amazing!” Ally beamed, reaching down to pat the bird with her finger. “Hey there, Ally!”

“Hehe!” Sind giggled. “Let’s hang out again later! Hopefully, things will be better by then.”

After a few minutes, the giants reboarded their ship and left the treehouse as well, leaving far more breathing room for the Q’s. “I think I’m gonna sleep in my house tonight.” Miko said. “Check in with my family…”

“Yeah, they’re probably worried about you.” Drake replied. “Heh…I didn’t make a bad first impression, did I?”

“Well, Mitch likes fighting games as much as any other.” Miko shrugged. “If anything, you were flattering him!”

“I get the greeting next time!” Jenny cheered, raising a foot in a swinging position.

“Hehe, it’s a promise!” Miko laughed. “Well… see you tomorrow, guys.”

“Later, newbie~” Eddy winked.

**Close to Hinobi Stop**

“Ugh, that stupid Drake Bell wannabe!” Mitch grumbled, dabbing his nose with a washcloth. “I was going to start a stream tomorrow morning!”

“Hey, Mitch… what do you think about the memory-wiping thing?” Five asked.

“I don’t really care about it. But Hinobi sponsors my videos, so I’m not about to stop for Miko’s sake.”

“I’m just a little worried about her. Because of her immunity, what if Hinobi tries to do something to her? Or her friends?”

“Whatever they do, it won’t be our problem.”

“Come on, you care about Miko deep down.”

“Let’s report to Phil that the mission was a success. And since I’m not looking to get in trouble, we’ll feign ignorance about the memory thing.”

“I guess so…” Bergy said worriedly.

They parked the van in the parking lot and crossed to enter Hinobi. “Phil,” Mitch began, “we’ve successfully fixed the… they, yey, YAH?!” But he lost his train of thought immediately, the operatives gawking at the surprising guest in the store.

“Hello, Sector Hinobi.” Kayaba greeted. “Everything’s been fixed, has it?”

“President Kayaba! Ih, Ih, it’s such an honor!” Mitch smiled and panted ecstatically. “I-I didn’t have a chance to put on makeup, I…”

“The living legend!” Haneesh said. “What are you doing here, Sir?”

“A personal inspection.” Kayaba answered. “My… that’s quite a bruise you have.” He acknowledged Mitch. “What happened?”

“Oh, uh…I tripped and hit my nose.”

“You’re also covered in what smells like donut glaze.”

“I stopped by the donut store… where I tripped. Heh, it’s not like I was punched by a brute and then grabbed by a giant kid or something!”

“Oh, Mitch.” Zahra sighed.

Kayaba raised a Hinobi Gauntlet and aimed it at Mitch’s. It displayed a hologram of Miko and the other operatives. _“What the… Miko, you haven’t been wiping them?!”_

_“Mitch, the mind-wiping needs to stop. These glitches are hurting Hinobi’s customers and they need to know.”_

_“That’s not for you to decide, Miko! Do you know how much trouble you could be in?”_

_“Ain’t you the one that transferred Miko? You wanted to get rid of her, so she shouldn’t have to play by your rules, anymore.”_

“Um, not that I don’t like my job,” Bergy spoke meekly, “but that’s kind of an invasion of privacy.”

“Miko is not doing her job?” Kayaba inquired. “That’s problematic…” He fast-forwarded through the rest of the scene. “And you five didn’t detain her?”

“We couldn’t just do that.” Five said. “Miko is our friend. And, now that she’s been transferred, she’s technically outside our jurisdiction.”

“Hmm…then perhaps letting her be transferred was a mistake. We’ve heard she could be quite a troublemaker. I guess it’s much trickier to manage her in this environment, Phil.”

“I mean, she’s with her team most of the time, and they’re not Hinobi.” Phil shrugged.

“And did you know about this, Phil?”

“Ummmm, I…”

“Hmm…I think a meeting is in order.”

“A meeting?”

“Yes. I would like to speak with Miss Kubota.”

“B-But why?” Five asked worriedly.

“To determine if sending her here was the right decision. Phil, would you call her?”

“It’s getting kinda late, she’s probably eating dinner-”

“Come now, Phil, we haven’t got all night.” Barbara said.

“Sigh…okay.”

“Ah, and Mitch… let me fix that for you.” Kayaba aimed his glove at Mitch. The boy’s head turned digitally as his nose seemed to blink back to normal.

“Whoa…thank you, Sir!”

“It won’t last for long, but it should make breathing more comfortable for now.”

**Kubota Household**

Miko joined her family in time for dinner. She sat across from her youngest sister, Lexi, still wearing her karate robe. The youngest brother, Lee was secretly giving his brussel sprouts to their large dog, Cloud, and their cat, Aerith. Cloud seemed to like them, but Aerith smacked them away.

Miko looked under the table as Lexi seemed to flick a paper ball over. Miko used her feet to unravel the ball and read the note: _How’s the glitch business going?_ Miko began scribbling on her own paper under the table. She balled it up and flicked it over, Lexi unfolding it. _Kinda complicated._

“Girls, no passing notes under the table.” Hugh said.

“So, are you enjoying your new friends, Miko?” Mayumi asked.

“Yeah! They’ve been pretty cool. We went to this skatepark, and we beat up some evil carnies, then it turned out the skatepark owner was evil, then we met a team of GIANTS, and…”

“Okay, slow down, kiddo.” Hugh laughed. “Heh, Earth is certainly exciting. I heard there was an incident where a bunch of buildings and landmasses suddenly appeared in the sky? And it was right before we came here!”

“For being such a peaceful galaxy, a lot of dangerous things seem to happen here.” Mayumi said. “I’m a little worried for you, Miko.”

“I’ll do fine, Mom! I’ve been a big help to them so far.” Naturally, her parents didn’t know anything about the Hinobi problems. They had always scolded her for being too obsessed with her games over school work, but if the truth about the glitches became public, it would certainly create some tension with her family. She didn’t want to dump the truth out now.

“Still, ever since you’ve been in KND, it’s been harder to schedule classes for you.” Hugh mentioned. “I know that schools agreed to exempt operatives from class during missions, but we’d like you to have some form of education.”

“But the KND teaches me a ton! Like… Lincolnville has a big jungle place because… the environment is well taken care of, compared to other, non-jungly places! Oh, and Guatemala’s farmlands are so great that people grow to be giants! And, through use of physics, people can cartwheel on a thin rail on roller-blades, and… not fall?”

“Honestly, Dad,” began Nica, the eldest sister, “I heard that most people forget 90% of the things they learned in school after graduating. Miko’s probably learning way more than the rest of us, and busting villains as a bonus.”

“I guess, given her academic difficulties, it’s the best we could ask for.” Mayumi said.

“You mean that she’s stupid?” Lee asked.

“You’re grounded, Lee.” Hugh said.

Miko glared at her brother, falling silent as she ate her dinner. “Uh, hey, Miko!” Lexi spoke up, wanting to change the subject. “Have you met Maddy Murphy? Some of the playground kids talk about her.”

“Yeah, I met her. Why?”

“I heard she’s the toughest girl in town! I gotta challenge her to a match!”

“Heh, good luck with that. She uses Haki, which… I think makes her pretty strong.”

It was then Miko felt her phone ringing. She pulled it out. “It’s… from my boss.”

“Oh, dear.” Mayumi frowned in worry. “Well, you better answer it.”

Miko answered, “Hello, Phil?”

_“Hi, Miko. Sorry if we’re interrupting something, but… we need you at the store for something important.”_

Miko clenched her teeth anxiously. “Uh…can I finish dinner first?”

_“Yeah, sure. Just get here when you can.”_

“‘kay…” She hung up. “They… need me for something.”

“Hm hm, you sound pretty dependable.” Mayumi smiled.

“Yeah, I know…” Miko forced a smile. “I hope I can get back soon…”

After finishing her dinner, Miko put her shoes on and walked outside. She gazed up toward the Sector Q treehouse, shadowed by the night. “…” She was about to summon Ally to make the ride to Hinobi Stop, but faced toward the treehouse again. She pulled out her phone and called, “Hey, guys? It’s Miko.”

 _“Hey, Miko. You need something?”_ Drake responded.

“I just got a call from Phil asking me to come to the store. He said that-”

_“Alright, we’re on our way!”_

“No, you guys don’t have to come. I was just letting you know-”

 _“Yeah yeah, we all know this is something suspicious.”_ Quill interrupted. _“Just hang tight and we’ll back you up.”_

 _“It’s just another standard operative tradition!”_ Carmine cheered. _“It’s standard protocol, Miko!”_

“Haha…thanks, guys.” Miko hung up. “Alright… let’s go.”

**Hinobi H.Q.**

The Mobian prisoner was locked in a cell after his use was exhausted for the day. He had no strength to muster to try and break free or even stand.

The jackal cracked open his mismatched eyes when alarms began blaring. He was curious what was happening, but was ascertained that it didn’t concern him. …But a few minutes later, the door to his chamber was burst open. An impish, shadowed figure stepped in, peering at the prisoner with red eyes.

**Hinobi Stop**

Miko stood a short distance away from the parking lot. The occasional car would pass by, but Miko eventually heard the familiar rumbling of Jenny’s rollers. “Hey, Jen! Decided to let the others eat your dust?”

“Nah, I’m just carrying them in my Convenience Box.” Jenny reached in her pocket and withdrew the Infi-Cube. The other four teammates jumped out of it.

The kids peeked around the corner to the lot. There were a couple cars parked, particularly the Hinobi Truck. “Want me to sneak in and scout the area?” Eddy asked.

“I can sense a lot of people inside.” Carmine said.

“Let’s just go in.” Miko decided. “We shouldn’t have to worry.”

The six friends calmly crossed the parking lot and entered the store. “Hello? Phil?” The store was creepily dark, but even creepier was the soft whirring sound heard behind them. When they turned, it seemed the entrance had disappeared. “Well, nerds.” Miko cursed simply.

“Thank you for coming, Miss Kubota. I see you haven’t come alone.”

A gray-haired man in a labcoat walked out of the darkness, his expression glum. “Well, hello, obvious villain.” Jenny greeted. “Wanted to get straight to the butt-whooping, huh?”

“No way… President Kayaba?!”

“You know him?”

“He’s the president of Hinobi!”

“Well, that’s a twist.” Eddy remarked. “Usually, the bosses of shady organizations stick to the shadows instead of inviting us directly to their lair.”

“Your friends have already filled me in. It seems you haven’t been cooperating with our policy, Miss Kubota.”

“I…” Miko half-expected that a Hinobi officer would show up and trouble them, but she hadn’t expected the actual president to appear. She took a breath and explained the truth. “When we encountered our first glitch, I tried to wipe their memories, but I ended up blinding Eddy. They got mad and told me not to use that on them.”

“And why did you hesitate? Was it that hard to catch them off guard?”

“That isn’t the point! I couldn’t have just kept lying to my own teammates. And every time I tried to show them one of your games, it just kept backfiring. They were angry, and I realized… if not for the mind-wiping, then a lot of customers would feel this way.”

“It is exactly for that reason we must make them forget. Miko, you’ve always been one of our best customers. We have online copies of every receipt for every customer, and yours are quite abundant. Our games that you cherish, that you grew up with, would not exist if these glitches became too public.”

“Yeah, but…but that’s why I’m so disappointed! Hinobi was my best friend growing up! It was my life! And then I met Five, I started making friends thanks to Hinobi. I wanted to show my new friends all your games and make them see why I love them, but your glitches hurt them.”

“Then purge their memories and reignite their experience.”

“No! Hinobi shouldn’t do this to its customers!”

“You know, Nintendo’s glitches don’t try to kill people the same way yours do.” Eddy inferred. “And I’d wager their technology is just as advanced, if not better. Why don’t you try changing your software so we stop having this problem?”

“You fool! It is this software that will put us above the likes of Nintendo, Sony, or any other developer!” Kayaba waved his gloved hand as a mini volcano, snowy mountain, and a clown appeared. “This energy that we use, that I discovered, we call it Miracle Matter. Making Programs feel real, giving them life, and augmenting reality will help our customers feel one with our games. Every glitch that you derez makes our games become more perfect. Every memory you wipe rekindles the friendship between our creations and customers.”

“That’s not the right way to rekindle friendship.” Quill stated. “I know people have flaws that they don’t want others to be aware of, but the more time you spend with people, the more likely they are to find out. By then, they’ll either accept you or reject you, but even if you try to forget, the same thing will eventually happen again.”

“Yeah.” Drake said. “But you know something? It’s hard to believe you guys were able to cover this up so much that it didn’t go public. What are the odds you cracked a deal with some higher-up politicians, or even the media?”

“Some friendships require tradeoffs to overlook flaws.”

“Well, you’re not trading off with us. Even if you wipe our memories now, it’s already too late. By now, the whole KND knows your secret.”

“Sigh…I knew Earth would be a troublesome place to establish business. But Miko… your immunity to memory erasure is an unprecedented issue. At this rate, I can’t just fire you. I may have to take you into custody. I will separate you from your friends and make them forget you ever existed. But if you wipe their memories now and come back to me… we can work together to fix this whole problem. So…?”

“…” Miko narrowed her eyes and wagged her finger. “Come at me.”

“So be it. Glitch Techs… arrest them all.” Kayaba sank into a hole as five figures marched out. They were Mitch, Five, Haneesh, Zahra, and Bergy.

“G…Guys?” Miko spoke with hurt in her voice.

“This is what happens when you don’t follow protocol, Miko!” Mitch stated, a hint of static in his voice. “Now, to reiterate, teammates, attack!”

The agents ran to confront the operatives, with Mitch tossing holo-shurikens at Drake, Zahra charging at Carmine with a pink laser sword, Haneesh running at Quill with energy scissors, and Bergy shooting lasers at Eddy. Five flew above with jet boots as he shot lasers at Miko, his friend dodging. “Five, why are you doing this?! Are you…?” As Miko tried to look him in the eyes, she noticed that his irises had big white H’s. She looked and noticed the same H’s in the other’s eyes.

Jenny lunged up to KICK Five in the gut, slamming him to the wall. “I’ll fight him so you don’t have to!”

“Guys, look at their eyes!” Miko said. “I’m not sure if these are the real ones.”

“Alright, then we won’t hold back!” Drake decided, shooting his harpoon at Mitch.

“AAAH!” the gamer cried with a hasty dodge. “How dare you accuse me of non-realism! I’m the one and only Mitch Williams!”

“In that case, I’m going for the boss!” Miko decided, extracting her hammer. She leapt and slammed it against the spot that Kayaba sank into, bashing it multiple times as the floor cracked. Finally, a hole was broken open, so Miko bravely dove in.

“We’ll catch up with ya!” Jenny called. She gracefully maneuvered around the floor to evade Five’s aerial shots. Five would elevate if Jenny tried to jump-kick him, so the girl rolled to the wall and tapped on her shoe rockets. She could boost up the wall, then kick off to land a kick to Five’s jaw. He flew further from the wall and shot homing missiles at her, but Jenny could easily jump up the projectiles for the next attack—Five switched on a shield to block and bounce her off. He then burned a laser along the floor, chasing a fleeing Jenny, and she was quick to whip around when he changed its position in front of her.

“You’ll never reach me up here!” Five taunted.

“Unless I use this!” Jenny grabbed a metal object from the Infi-Cube and threw it down. It grew into a rail and propped itself up like a slope, and she quickly skated up to an unprepared Five as she dealt a kick to the crotch. He lost control on his jetshoes and crashed on the floor, leaving Jenny to deal the finishing kick.

Miko landed in another empty room and spotted Kayaba. “YAAAH!” She unhesitantly leapt to smash her hammer—he effortlessly stepped left. Miko violently tried to swing it side-to-side, but Kayaba’s position changed so quickly, it was like his legs weren’t even moving.

“What are you trying to do, child? Attacking your boss is rude.”

“Uh, you make videogames, dude! The only way to beat the level is to beat the boss! Now, hold still and take it!”

Quill was using his shortness to duck under Haneesh’s scissors, the latter tanking Quill’s fire blasts. Quill pressed both the wind and fire functions to muster an enhanced blast to banish him away. Haneesh recovered and launched mini scissors at Quill, but even as the boy pursued, Haneesh backed away in evasion. Quill dropped an RC car and steered it toward Haneesh, who was unable to escape from the tiny speedy toy. He tried to step on it, but the car withstood his weight and tripped Haneesh. Quill dashed forward and performed a flip onto Haneesh’s chest, freezing ice over Haneesh’s face. Haneesh smacked Quill off and got up, using a heating function of his glove to melt the ice. Quill combined Fire and Ice to spray water around the floor, then he blew wind to wash a wave over Haneesh. With that, he quickly swapped back to ice to freeze the water and freeze Haneesh like an iceberg.

Miko leapt to punch Kayaba, the president lazily bringing up an arm to withstand the punch. Miko was knocked back by an invisible force, but she landed on her feet and returned to deal a rapid flurry! “You are strong, but it’s not nearly enough. I thought, by now, you would’ve learned some form of Haki, but it seems your brain is unfit for the task.”

“What, you’re calling me stupid?! Then why can’t you mind-wipe me?!”

Carmine ran from Zahra and threw bombs behind her, the Muslim easily evading them. When Zahra slashed at Carmine directly, the latter evaded with Haki and sneakily dropped M.A.R.B.L.E.s. The tiny bombs exploded around Zahra while Carmine escaped their radius. Zahra recovered, so Carmine threw more grenades. Zahra changed her sword to a bat to hit the bombs back, but still Carmine avoided. “AAAH!” Unfortunately, Zahra landed a bash to the head as Carmine was knocked over, her gas mask slipping off.

“Looks like that armor doesn’t protect you after all!” Zahra declared.

Carmine faced up at Zahra, revealing her grotesque, pinkish and shriveled head. “Oh, my…” Zahra hesitated.

“Yeah… this is what I look like. Ow, and that really hurt!” Carmine began squirming. “The air is making the wound sizzle! Ow! Ahh!”

“H-Hang on, let me get your-”

Carmine flicked a M.A.R.B.L.E. at Zahra’s face and exploded it, the Glitch Tech keeling over. “But thanks for the offer.” Carmine smiled, going to reclaim her headwear.

Eddy was tapping his laptop to shoot lasers at Bergy, who shot lasers in turn, both skinny teammates suffering an equal amount of hits. However, Eddy had secretly dropped a robot bug and lured Bergy’s vision away from it. He inputted commands for the bug on his laptop, at the same time coding lasers. The robot skittered up Bergy’s leg and along the underside of the arm. Once the bug reached the gauntlet, it sank its “teeth” into the glove to input a computer virus. “Huh?! What’s going on?!” Bergy panicked as his controls began fizzing out.

“Here’s a bullying classic!” Eddy declared, thrusting punches at himself. Bergy’s glove began to punch himself against his will. “Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself, stop it!”

Downstairs, Miko began panting with exhaustion, at a loss for ideas as she could neither damage nor touch Kayaba. “But haven’t you just met these five? Weren’t you moved here against your decision? Why risk so much for them?”

“I…I don’t know!” Miko panted. “They were just… mad at me, for the mind-wiping thing, and the car thing… and it was all your games’ fault! You and your stupid rules! You know, me, Five, and the others still love your games. We still play them, even at the risk of glitches. So, why can’t other people…”

“You are trained to battle the glitches, but most people are not. Only true gamers can accept the glitches and learn to conquer them, in the steady process of achieving perfection. But these new friends clearly do not understand. They are closed-minded to games and turn them away for the smallest flaws. And they will not understand you.”

“Pfft, guess again, smarty! They let me stay, even after I hurt Eddy, and they wouldn’t let me come here alone. You’re the only problem here, you and your janky games! If your games aren’t perfect enough, then you, shouldn’t, SELL THEM!” Miko began furiously bashing her hammer against the unmovable developer, but the weapon merely fizzled out each time it was at Kayaba.

Drake shot his harpoon at the wall behind Mitch, hauled himself over as he tried to kick the LPer, and repeat the process repeatedly. Mitch formed a barrier to make Drake crash, then he disabled it and trapped the Q Leader inside his own bubble prison. “Try breaking my nose from in there, Captain Hoo-”

Drake imbued Haki to his harpoon and pierced the bubble, stabbing Mitch in the gut. Drake pulled Mitch to him to land a solid nose punch, shot him forward, then retracted for another punch, followed by a third one before letting Mitch go down for good. “They don’t call me the 3-Hole Puncher for nothin’!”

“Drake, let’s hurry and help Miko!” Carmine ushered.

“Aye-aye!” The five quickly jumped into the hole. They were just in time to see Miko failing to hit Kayaba with the hammer, the gamer reaching her limit once more as she slumped in exhaustion.

“You can’t take all of us!” Jenny rolled up for a kick that Kayaba evaded, Carmine threw some bombs that he survived, and Quill ran circles around, shooting flames over the president.

“It doesn’t seem like all of us are taking him…” Eddy commented.

“You cannot defeat me in my augmented reality. Why bother wasting your efforts for Miko? You’re better off losing your memories and letting her go. She will only bring you more trou-”

“Can it with that bullcrap, buddy.” Drake stated, marching up to Kayaba with his harpoon trained on the neck. “If Miko never came to our sector, we might’ve never known about your shady operation. She’s already been a big help. Maybe we just met her, but we’re not gonna let you take her. I know my girls, buddy, and this one’s got a big heart.”

“I’ll admit, I’m not entirely used to her,” Quill said, “but I’d feel pretty small for letting some creep take her.”

Miko blushed lightly. She was used to Five sticking up for her, but it felt far more flattering that her new friends were doing the same.

“Sigh…all I wanted was for people to love my creations.” Kayaba said. “But it seems they’re just not ready, yet.”

“Yeah, well what’re you gonna do about it?” Eddy asked.

“More testing is required… nay, a new approach.”

“Just spill the beans, Gray Hair.” Jenny retorted.

“I’m saying that I admit defeat.”

“You…you are?” Carmine asked.

“Even if I try to drag Miko away now… I’ll only be denying the truth. My games… just aren’t perfect, yet. They were not ready for Earth’s homes.”

“It’s not about being perfect.” Eddy argued. “It’s about not letting your games come to life and hurt people! Just go the old-fashioned way! As long as games stay in the console, who cares if they glitch?!”

“That is where our ideals part, I’m afraid. But it doesn’t matter now. My approach is wrong, either way. Forgive me for my disturbance, Kids Next Door. I will leave… and shut my stores down.”

With a wave of his glove, the room derezzed into pixels and changed back into Hinobi Stop, games and consoles neatly stocked on the shelves. And Kayaba had disappeared.

“Geez, what happened?” Phil stepped out from the back room, rubbing his head. “I feel like I went into Doki Doki shutdown.”

“Hey, the store’s back to normal!” Haneesh said as he and the others stepped out. “Where’s President Kayaba?”

“Miko!” Five exclaimed, running up to hug his friend.

“F-Five!” Miko perked up in confusion. “So, just now, those were really… fakes?”

“What are you talking about?”

“We were attacked by Kayaba, and… I guess he’s gone now.”

“My nose!” Mitch screamed, holding his squished face. “It’s broken again! Mr. Kayaba?!”

“Well, Phil, everything checks out.” They turned as Barbara exited the back area. “Congratulations on your well-kept store!”

“Uh…thanks?”

“Unfortunately, in light of some recent controversy, we may have to close business on Earth for a while. However, we’ll put in a good word for you at GameStop, so no worries.”

“Geez, I just can’t catch a break around here.”

“So… what happens to me?” Miko asked.

“Well, my dear, you may have to find another part-time job yourself. Unless you would rather move back to Coruscant. Our main branch will be happy to have you back.”

Miko looked to Sector Q. “Hmm…I think I’m good where I am. I’m starting to like it on Earth. Besides… someone has to stay and make sure you don’t try anything.”

“That’s all well and good then. Make sure you get to bed soon, children!” With that, Barbara left the store.

“I guess… everything’s fine, then?” Five asked, confused by the rather sudden resolution.

“I guess. …I’m sorry I dragged you into this, Five.”

“No worries! No matter how far apart we are, I’ll always have your back!” Five punched her shoulder playfully.

“Haha! And no matter how far the Wi-Fi stretches, I’ll always break your virtual back!” She punched his back.

“Ugh, this is so cheesy, I’m becoming lactose!” Mitch complained. “Let’s get on the truck and leave already.”

“Aw, can’t we stay for a little bit?” Haneesh asked, approaching Quill. “I’m digging this kid’s blasters! What are those buttons?”

“Nature Crystals from Schnee Dust!” Quill twirled his Elementors. “GKND nicked these for me!”

“Wicked!”

“Hey, sorry about what Mitch said to you.” Zahra said to Carmine. “It must be hard to have to wear that.”

“It is, and I wish I didn’t have to. But you know, there’s probably lots of people with worse conditions, so… I like to hope I’m sort of an inspiration.”

“Eddy, do you have an online screen name?” Bergy asked.

“On Nintendo, I’m Eddy-Will-Floor-You. ’Cause I’m Eddy William Flores in real life.”

“I’m Bergmaster97! Heh, there were 96 others when I decided that one.”

“Sorry that I broke your nose, Mitch!” Drake apologized. “I’ll pay for your plastic surgery if you want.”

“Not necessary. I have a highly skilled editor, so you’ll be paying him in my stead.”

“Screw off.”

“But you just said-!”

“Y’know, maybe more people will respect you for tanking an injury. Just look at me.” Drake held up his hook. “When I was in training, Arctic Base got attacked by a sword Nighlok. I got kinda ballsy with him and lost my hand. But now a bunch of girls think I’m cool.”

“Yeah, but I sound like a nasally freak thanks to you!”

“Chicks did nasals.”

“What the…ugh, why am I bothering with you? I’m Mitch Williams! Good day, sir!” And he began to march out.

“We’ll catch you later, Meeks.” Five said. “Maybe during a holiday or something.”

“It’s a deal, baby seal!”

“Haha, that’s right!”

Both teams left the store and went their separate ways. _Why is Kayaba just letting her go, anyway?_ Mitch thought suspiciously. _Miko was always unusual… and ever since she joined, Barbara’s visits have been more frequent, even here. I wonder…_

Barbara was already returning to Coruscant on her own ship, Kayaba seated behind her. “So, this was a successful test?”

“Yes.” Kayaba affirmed. “Perhaps working with Earth’s KND will give Miko far more experience. I was worried since her mental capabilities were reported to be more than faulty. She should be capable in excelling in any physical activity, but anything that requires focusing her chi may be lost on her. But perhaps mental growth is not the most important aspect of a person. Perhaps I have overlooked the heart. Perhaps, through experience and friendship together, her heart will grow stronger. And that may yield the same results.”

“And you believe the Earth KND possesses that ‘heart’?”

“If Sector Q’s words and actions are anything to go by. For now, we must continue with our own end of the project. We may be able to finish _Aincrad_ by next-”

An alarm rang through their ship. Barbara answered. “Is there a problem, Franklin?”

_“Inspector Seven! Is President Kayaba there? There’s been an emergency! The matterbender was kidnapped! He’s gone!”_

“What?!” Kayaba gasped. “By who?”

**Unknown base**

The jackal was rested on a chair in a dark room. An obese, egg-shaped figure stepped out to greet him. “Well, what cruel operations has Hinobi been running?”

“Who are you?”

“I am Dr. Eggman, the universe’s greatest scientist. My special sources have informed me of the ‘glitches’ running rampant in Coruscant, and it reminded me of something I’m looking for. I tried to implant this virus into their network and investigate them.” He held up a blue Flashdrive in his fingers, and it had an eye symbol. “But their defenses are quite strong. However, I was able to locate you, so I phoned in an old friend to retrieve you.”

“And why be so generous?”

“Because I want to know what Hinobi is hiding. Why were they keeping you prisoner?”

“They were trying to drain me of my Matter Chi. They…oogh!” His body began fizzing like static.

“What’s wrong?”

“My body! It feels… unstable! They…they took too much! Please… do something!”

“Hold on, I should have some remedies for this.” Eggman pressed a speaker button. “Scratch! Grounder! Get down here with some Matter Stabilizers, now!”

 _“Yes, Your Maliciousness!”_ Scratch responded in a scrawky voice.

 _“I think I used one to clean the toilet yesterday!”_ Grounder followed.

“What do you want from Hinobi?” the jackal asked.

“Something that could potentially benefit you in your current condition. Perhaps the two of us could work together.”

“If you can fix this… I’ll do anything you ask…”

“And does our new friend have a name?” Eggman smiled.

“My name… is-”

**Kubota Household**

Miko dressed in her pajamas as she tucked herself in bed. She wore a minty-yellow sweater and dark-green pants going into socks with pink stripes, and her hair was wrapped in a bun. Lexi was already asleep in the bed across from hers. “So, Miko, what did they call you for?” her mother asked.

“Uh, they wanted me to help fix some computer… thingies?”

“Really? You?”

“Pfft, well, yeah! All ya have to do is just… okay, they just needed someone to help load trucks.” Miko replaced her bad lie with a better lie. “There’s been some problems, so… Hinobi might be closing their Earth stores for a while.”

“Oh…that’s unfortunate.”

“Yeah, but later I’ll try to apply for GameStop! That’s just as cool!”

“Hm hm, does it have to be a game store, Miko?”

“Well, games are what I know best.” Miko mumbled and shrugged sheepishly. “But, anyway… I’m glad we moved. My new friends have taught me a lot, and they’re so understanding.”

“That’s great, dear. I’m glad that you’re… playing a game right now, aren’t you?”

Mayumi had faintly heard a beep under Miko’s blanket, so she revealed the DS in her hands. “It’s _Mario_! I’m taking a break from Hinobi.”

“Hm hm! Just don’t stay up too late. Good night, Miko.”

“G’night, Mom!” Miko waved as Mayumi exited the room. With that, the gamer grabbed a headset and got under the covers. “So, you geared up, Eddy?”

“Ready when you are!” In his own room, Eddy was under the blanket with his own DS.

The sound of Mario Karts whirring could be faintly heard from the dim-lit bedrooms. They were committed to crushing each other on the track. “Uh, Eddy? Is that supposed to happen?” Miko found herself stuck inside a mushroom graphic and unable to escape.

“Hah! So, Nintendo never patched that glitch after all! I’m glad some things are still the same.”

“Haha, and it’s not trying to kill us either! …Seriously, how do I get out?”

“When I cross the Finish Line, You_K.O.!”

“Nnnnooooooo!”

Lexi grumbled in frustration at her sister’s noise and tried to bury her head under her pillow. (Play the “Credits Song” from _Glitch Techs_!)

**_A Newbie’s Quest_ : Cast:**

**Monica Ray as _Miko Kubota_**

**Dan Green as _Drake Puncture_**

**Dee Bradley Baker as _Quill Ramsey_**

**Ben Diskin as _Eddy Flores_**

**Phyllis Smith as _E. Carmine_**

**AJ Michalka as _Jenny Strongarm_**

“Mr. Baxter, we’re back from Earth.” Five greeted as the operatives approached their new boss.

“Did ya bring me the Clam Necklace souvenir like I asked for?” Mr. Baxter was a gray alien in a brown wig and Hinobi uniform.

“Well, no, we ran into some problems.”

“Yeesh, what happened to your nose, Mitch?”

“I was punched by a brute! I demand worker’s compensation!”

“The only compensation you’ll get is a binky and a rattle if you don’t stop whinin’! Now, lean over here.”

Mitch did so, and Roger planted a kiss on Mitch’s broken nose. “How does that feel, Mitch?”

“It feels… better.”

Roger smiled and stroked Mitch’s face. “You really should get that lip mole removed, I notice some shaving cuts on it.”

**Greg Cipes as Dillon York**

**Lauren Tom as Vanellope von Schweetz**

**Ricardo Hurtado as High Five**

**Luke Youngblood as Mitch Williams**

**Haley Tju as Lexi Kubota**

**Scott Kreamer as Phil Altiere**

“Alright, time to check if all these games are where they should be.” Phil said as he began his new job in GameStop. “What the…” All the cases appeared to be filled with doughnuts. “…” Well, he couldn’t very well let these gunk up the cases, so Phil delightfully began eating. “Oh…I’ve missed you, my sweets.”

Somewhere far away, all the real game discs were hunting foxes for robots.

**Michael Dobson as Larry Grimley**

**Brian Drummond as Hamshank**

**Colin Murdock as John Dullard**

“Come on, tell me this doesn’t sound like a Deadpool impression!” Sind Diego boasted. “Ahem…yo, who wants to go out for chimichangas? That’s Mr. Pool, first name Dead!”

Sectors Q and GT laughed and clapped. “Wow, that’s almost like Ryan Reynolds!” Quill said.

“Man, who the hell is this giant kid tryin’ to imitate me?” Sind mimicked.

“Ha ha, good one!” Miko laughed. “But, who is Deadpool, anyway?”

“An R-rated movie we weren’t supposed to watch.” Biyo whimpered.

“Come on, Biyo, it wasn’t that bad.” Konbu replied.

“I threw up 50 times! Oooo, and now I want to again…”

**Ryan Reynolds as Sind Diego**

**Madeleine Morris as Doran Dodley**

**Amanda Gish as Konbu Colins**

**Terri Doty as Uzu Colins**

**Kristen McGuire as Ally Mitchels**

**Kate Oxley as Biyo Winston**

**Sharon Mann as Cheren Uno**

On a jovial stroll down the street, Miko walked by Nolan York and his wife, Danika. “Hey, man! Lookin’ dandy!” Miko did a wink and flicked her fingers at them. “Yo, I like your hair, woman! I need to get me a strip!” The couple giggled at her demeanor.

**Marc Diraison as Kayaba**

**Betsy Sodaro as Barbara**

**Mike Pollock as Eggman**

**Liam O’Brien as the jackal prisoner**

**Glitch Techs characters owned by Eric Robles and Dan Milano**

**Other characters owned by their respective owners**

**Published by deviantART**

**Presented by Gamewizard2008**

**Sector Q will return for more!**

_“Last week, Coruscanti game developer, Hinobi had established shops in the United States as they localized their games to our fair planet. However, due to sudden reports of extremely faulty hardware, in which game characters physically came to life and attacked their players, all of their products were pulled off the shelves and recalled from buyers, ultimately postponing their operations until this issue is resolved. Officers from KND and G.U.N. are looking to ensure no major harm was done to the buyers.”_

_“Well, Eva, I think it’s safe to say who won’t be winning Game of the Year!”_

_“Perhaps not, Kade…”_

Cheren smiled, seeing that the news broadcast seemed to go without a hitch. “Everything seems to be okay on this end.”

 _“Yeah, but it doesn’t seem like Intergalactic News broadcasted anything on Coruscant or anywhere else.”_ Nebula replied through the terminal. _“I contacted Sasha about it and she’s working to inform all her KND. It’s probably gonna cause some problems for the Hinobi operatives.”_

“As long as it stops people from being hurt by those glitches, it’s a necessary cost. On the bright side, it sounds like things are working out for Miko in Sector Q. Things are really shaping up for us this year!”

_“Well, since we lived through the biggest crisis that could happen, hopefully things will be smooth sailing until at least next year.”_

“Yeah, but we still need to keep our eyes open. After those last couple incidents, I think our new struggles have only begun. Luckily, we should have more than enough new operatives to help us.”

**This was a nice little side-story! But yeah, Sector Q will naturally have a big story in the future, but that’ll be after the additions to _Pirate Wars_ , along with another project. Besides Miko, I had fun giving Sector Q their long-awaited screen time. They were probably the last OCs I made for Nextgen, and it felt nice to write out a new batch of good and simple, but unique OCs! Fun fact, the First Gen Sector Q were initially :iconDepthcharge2030:’s OCs (including the famous Nolan York), and I think that whole side-plot was based off some foreshadowing in the original _KND_ show that Sector Q were somewhat famous in the KND. Kind of a shame that I didn’t give them justice earlier, but the long wait is over! So, what did you think about the Quahog kids? We’ll have plenty more time for them later, so until then! Keep gamin’!**

…

“I’m on my way to the meeting, Gaz.” Tallest Zim said to his wife. “You sure you don’t want to come?”

“I’m in the middle of a tournament, Zim!” The purple-haired woman was seated on the floor, locked in a space-shooter game. “I’m not going to some boring council meeting!”

“Ahh, some things never change.” Zim smiled. “Well, you have fun, dearie.”

Her fingers not deviating from the buttons, Gaz glanced down to an envelope in her purple-striped lap. Its seal resembled a pirate skull with blonde, horn-shaped hair. “…I’ll think about it.” Gaz said as she shot down 10 more ships.


End file.
